And So I Stand
by Nagumo
Summary: Dedicated to one of the more obscure characters of Shaman King. Meene. The day before her match and the day of her match in the Shaman Fight. (melding of anime, manga and AU). Read and enjoy
1. To Think

I do not own Shaman King. Or Duvet by BOA.

Connected to Exaudi nos et misrere. A sort of prologue, to give people an idea of the Meene I am trying to create and explain. Based on a mixture of the manga and tv series for the most part. AU.

I had to break this chapter up into three separate parts because it is insanely long and complicated.  
(Please also note that the formatting for this fic sucks… I spent hours trying to get it right but I've given up)

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Within the ship that the X-Laws made as their headquarters there are three rooms that most members did not enter. 

One such room was Marco Innocenzo Testarossa's personal bedroom, the X-Laws only entered when Marco expected them or asked. 

Another was the Holy Iron Maiden Jeanne D'Arc personal area in the bilge where she resided most of the time encased in the Iron Maiden of Roses. Members of the X-Laws almost never entered it unless they had the express permission of Jeanne or if it was an emergency.

The third room was not a forbidden room per say compared to the other two but it was a room that not many entered on a regular basis. It was called the 'vault' by those who knew about it, the place where all the reports on Hao's group and other such information which passed through various X-Laws agents and sympathizers and into the X-Laws hands. This was where information was screened, translated, processed and then finally taken to the leader to base future plans and strategies. 

It was a difficult and frustrating job running the place, seeing that much of the information was often in a foreign language of some sort or came sporadically from unknown sources making it difficult to verify its truthfulness. Even if the information was factual and reliable there was also the question whether or not the information source was sincere in the X-Laws mission of ridding the world of Asakura Hao. 

The operator of the 'vault' knew from personal experience that some of the information fell into the X-Laws hands because of the petty rivalries between the ranks of shamans within Asakura Hao's group. But such information was on shamans who were not very powerful or trusted by Hao in any way. The operator was almost absolutely certain that most of the powerful shamans had very few such petty squabbles or friction between them. Hao kept them in line for the most part. And they were all driven by the false vision of the Shaman Kingdom. Nothing quite destroys enmity and competition between individuals than a grand ideal, good or evil, shared by all.

Then there was an incredible load of what the operator categorized as useless information. Such as information about Asakura Hao's preference of using soy sauce for his meals. What was the operator supposed to do with information like that? Send a packet of poisoned soy sauce to Hao? Or Marion Phauna's tendency of speaking in third person which practically everyone, who heard of the girl, would know about. Or the seemingly random (and useless) tidbit of information about Big Guy Bill which listed all 21 names of his dead teammates and how they died. Though Marco seemed to be particularly amused by it, the operator was not amused at all and tried imagine why anyone would waste their time actively researching about it.

Then there was the extremely rare useful and helpful information that usually got things done. It didn't happen often but occasionally the information allowed the X-Laws to eliminate Hao sympathizers and followers. Boris Tepes Dracula's death was the result of some fortuitous information to fall into the X-Laws hands and it certainly wasn't the only one.

Of course there were downsides in running a information network such as this. There was always the chance that the information from a source is nothing than a ploy to destroy the X-Laws. It had happened before and it would happen again though the operator was quite thorough making sure it wasn't a trap.

It seemed that today the information that passed through the 'vault' was routine and not at all important or useful. The operator just had one more thing to do before leaving.

It was to check the e-mails from the Catholic Church and personal messages to make sure they weren't loaded with a virus. Usually the messages between the X-Laws and the Church were brief and pertaining to the funding of the group. The dry necessity and logistics of running their group. It was probably the most common e-mail received in the entire mailbox on the secured line.

Personal messages were rare, that is to say almost non-existent. The mailbox was almost always empty of any sort of personal message. It was a bitter reminder of just how much all the X-Laws had lost. There was no family or friends in the outside world for most of them. There was no home to return to but the ashes of the old.

Yet there were the occasional surprising message that came out of the blue. Most recipients were eager for such messages. But there was one who hated receiving them.

Picture the room in your mind if you can. It is a sterile, impersonal room with file cabinets lining each side. A large oak table sits in the middle comfortably with a computer and it's screen shedding light in the barely lit room. A young woman dressed in white staring at the screen and reading what was written on it in silence. The glare shines off of her face and blue eyes. The e-mail brings news she isn't sure how to respond to. Her face twitches and her eyes burn with the conflicting emotions of hate and pity. In silence she reaches towards the keyboard of the computer and begins typing her answer.

To: Father Pietros Salvatore Platamone piesalpla@cath.com  
From: 333173 xiii-1@xlaws.com  
Subject: Re: Forgiveness  
Date: Sat, 23 June 2001 17:41:04 -0400

'All the old knives that have rusted in my back, I drive in yours.'

From: Father Pietros Salvatore Platamone piesalpla@cath.com  
To: 333173 xiii-1@xlaws.com  
Subject: Forgiveness  
Date: Fri, 22 June 2001 22:32:14 -0300

It has been three years since the last time we have seen each other. No   
matter how many times I send you a letter, call you or send you an e-mail.   
You never answer back or you are always off somewhere.  
I beg of you to answer me. I am an old man and I am, at last, dying. I   
want to reach you, to see you if possible before I finally die. To talk if   
for only one brief moment to apologize with all my soul and heart.  
I have been terrible to you when you came under my guardianship. It was  
never your fault but mine. I drank so much at that time...  
Your mother is probably disappointed in me as she watches over you in  
heaven.  
Please answer me, 333173.

The message was sent and the silence was broken by the sound of the computer's fan whirling. The room was suffocating in it's heavy darkness and lack of air circulation. Meene wanted to get out immediately and took the scattered files on the desk to put away into the file cabinet.

It was enough for today. She had had enough at least. She had no stomach to deal with her former guardian and had no intention of ever speaking to him again. She had no intention of ever going back to the remnants of her old life. There were too many memories, regrets and sins in the past to deal with.

Beep, beep, beep. Beep! Beep, beep, beep. Beep! Beep, beep, beep. Beep! 

Meene's Oracle Bell was ringing. The screen was flashing. The file folders she carried in her hand fell from her numb fingertips as she stood at the file cabinet. She stared at the coat hanger where she left her Oracle Bell hanging and took a deep breath before going to the Oracle Bell to see if her eyes were not fooling her.

X-III vs. Hoshigumi. Patch Village Stadium. 11 a.m.

She felt no fear but rather a detached fascination as she watched the glowing screen of the Oracle Bell flash and then silenced itself. The air was still and cloying again but it did not matter any more. The files on the floor did not matter. All that mattered was…

Without thinking Meene grabbed the Oracle Bell and raced out the 'vault' forgetting the mess of papers she made completely.

The time of vengeance was at hand. There was the shiver of death in her soul, hers or her enemies she knew not. All she knew was that she had to see Cebin, Venstar and Marco.

*****

"You are relieved from your standard duties for the rest of the day. Take some time to prepare for the match tomorrow but remember to sleep," Marco ordered firmly. He said it with the voice of an experienced leader; it was strange to hear Marco now. Five years ago, the man would become silent for too long as he thought up something to say in a situation like this. He was not as decisive when it came to issuing orders as he was now. Nevertheless, times change and people change.

Usually for the worse.

"As for you Lyserg Diethyl, I suggest you keep out of their way or make yourself useful," Marco said. Lyserg nodded silently.

"Dismissed."

The impromptu meeting the hallway ended as soon as it had begun. There was really nothing much to add that was not already decided beforehand. The first group who get to face Hao is to probe the enemy's strength as much as possible if they failed to destroy him. The destruction of Hao is paramount, but their death will not be in vain if they failed. May God bless them and their just endeavor.

It was really quite unfortunate that those words did not really comfort Meene since she is the first group to face down Hao. Not to mention that heard them far too many times in her short life to be inspired by them. Not that it truly mattered right at this point. She had slightly more important things to consider, other than her death.

"Marco?" Meene began conversationally when she was finally alone with him. Cebin and Venstar, especially Venstar, went off to prepare their weapons for the fight. Lyserg followed the two, though he seemed particularly grief stricken, to help them. Meene had tried not wince too hard as she saw a bruise growing on Lyserg's cheek.

"What is it? I have things to do…." Marco did not get to finish his sentence because Meene punched him in the stomach. Hard. Marco went down to his knees and his glasses fell to the ground.

"What the HELL was that for?" Marco sputtered as he tried to not lose his lunch all over the floor. Marco almost would have preferred being punched him in the face if it was not for the unfortunate fact Meene knew where his glass jaw was.

"That was for hitting Lyserg. The poor kid did not deserve it… Besides if I punched you in the face, you would just fall down unconscious and we wouldn't be having this conversation," Meene said in the same conversational tone. 

"He didn't deserve it? He was questioning the will of justice! Not to mention being completely rude to you and the others," Marco said loudly as picked up his glasses and got up from his knees.

"The will of justice does not mean you get to punch him for being sad! You know what sort of personality he has. He doesn't particularly like losing people he's fond of."

"Oh I know what sort of personality he has! He is an idiot that still shows traces of misplaced loyalty to Hao's other half Asakura Yoh…" Marco ranted red in the face. Meene countered his rant angrily but in a somewhat calmer way but she felt her temper flare.

"He is kind! Gentle! Struggling to be just! He is a good boy who will grow to be a good man! It not as if he is the only one who shows traces of 'misplaced loyalty'! If I remember correctly, Father Luchist was it?"

Marco looked as though he was going to murder Meene.

'Oh wonderful… I pissed him off,' Meene thought to herself as she saw the throbbing vein of anger and red face of Marco. His glasses were back and were glaring due to the lights, hiding his eyes.

"**What are you trying to imply**?" Marco said giving each word a deadly edge. His hands twitched as though he wanted to strangle her.

"Marco, if you attack me. We'll hear how high pitched you were as a choirboy again," Meene said flatly. She drew herself into a combat stance and waited. Marco could not keep himself from wincing at her reminder. He did not want to go through that experience again. While Marco was a better shot with the gun than her, but Meene showed him more than once that he was incompetent when it came to hand-to-hand combat compared to her. He forced his hands to relax but his face plainly told her that he was very angry.

"Personally I don't think you had the right to punch me in the stomach," Marco said. He took the moral high ground of someone who didn't do anything wrong. 

"No. You're right I didn't have the right to punch you in the stomach…" Meene conceded and Marco gave her a triumphant smirk.

"But Lyserg had every right to punch your face in and see you hit the ground," Meene concluded firmly. For a moment, Marco looked dumbfounded and then gave Meene a look that told her, she was pushing his patience again.

"We both have things to do. If you have nothing important to say just go and relax. You'll need your strength for tomorrow," Marco said dismissingly. At his tone, Meene blanched.

"Nothing important? You just hit Lyserg in the face right in front of us!" Meene protested. She had a horrible feeling that things were just going to get worse here on. Intuition told her that something was off about the way Marco was treating Lyserg. Initially she concluded that Marco was simply uncomfortable around children. Indeed she never seen Marco treat Jeanne or Lyserg as a child but rather as adults without exception or excuse; Marco believed utterly that age was no excuse for anything. Yet as time went on she began to notice little things about Marco and his conduct; his awkwardness around Lyserg, the occasional snappish criticism for minor incidences and then there was the out of the blue physical violence. Marco never blatantly lashed out at team members except under extreme duress. It was as if Marco was completely utterly clueless on how to treat Lyserg, therefore held the boy up to his exacting standards since he had nothing else to go upon. For Jeanne he relied on an incredibly old fashioned code of chivalry that was politically incorrect, bordering on sexism almost, to deal with her. Meene luckily was not treated in that manner, Marco made an exception with her. He regarded Meene as a car thief, one of the most diabolical of criminals in existence in his mind, and someone who was far too removed from the norms of society and his conceived notion of womanhood.

It was funny and sad at the same time. After all, just what does Marco regard as normal?

"It was to make him come to his senses and pay attention," Marco stated idly. To him the conversation was finished. Meene was startled out of her reverie and blinked.

"You hit him… so he would pay attention?"

Marco merely nodded.

Meene wasn't sure at first if he was joking or not. Then she remembered this was Marco, he almost never joked.

"I stand in awe of your leadership Captain Testarossa. Please do tell me how often you hit other fellow team members to make them come to their senses and pay attention to you. Oh wait, never mind, you only do this to thirteen year old boys who feel sad, and then you go on with your monologue of justice and then strike a pose in your short-shorts of eye gouging doom."

Sarcasm dripped from her words and Marco was not amused. He knew better than to be baited by her but he unfortunately could not stop himself. His mind was clouded with anger and embarrassment. What gave her the right to talk down to him as though he was an idiot? He was not the one who thought building booby traps outside the bedroom door as normal nor did he think that all children from age five and onward learn how to makes bombs and handles guns in school. 

When he recruited her it was after she had been excommunicated and banished from the Order. She had signed up to go to high school for the first time in her life and was expelled from it within a month because she thought that the 'keep out' sign hanging on the fence of a renovation site needed a bit more of a zing to it to keep out trespassers. She electrified the entire fence and sincerely believed she was doing the school a favor by keeping out 'unauthorized personnel' and 'enemies'. Luckily the electrocuted construction workers were only badly shocked, not killed. There were other sinister things about her that he had heard but could scarcely believe, rumors of murder and of incredible cruelty in the name of the Church when she was working as part of the Order. Whether it was true or not was another matter but Marco had seen personally that the rumors held more than a grain of salt. 

Meene felt no compunction to follow rules or honor and she had no regret in taking questionable actions to achieve certain goals. She had to be told what the limits were when doing her duty sometimes. Oh she was kind and gentle, some would say saintly but there was a streak of inhumanity in her that shocked people. It was an incredible irony really. In many ways she was the most 'normal' out everyone in the X-Laws. Until a situation arose that it seemed to simply shut off her morality and senses.

After all, one does not casually and cheerfully torture an enemy shaman to extract information. Meene was almost motherly in the entire affair as she pulled teeth out, smashed fingers with a hammer, cuts bits of skin off, ripped off fingernails to name but a few tactics, all while asking questions. Marco and everyone else could not stomach the procedures. Even though it was **_very_** effective and successful, Meene was banned from interrogations for the remainder of her service with the X-Laws. Her heritage bled through it seemed.

And she had the nerve to complain about his conduct to Lyserg? Unthinkable.

"I refuse to be lectured by you of all people! You have no right to, in light of your own past and what you have done before nephelim," Marco snarled.

Meene gritted her teeth and created a poker face. Marco then suffered a rare moment of tact when he realized what he said.

"… I'm sorry; I didn't mean it that…" Marco began.

"If you didn't mean it, then why say it in the first place?…" Meene asked in a cutting tone.

Marco paused and realized there was no point in continuing. 

"…This conversation is over. Just go and get ready for tomorrow," Marco sighed.

Without a word, both went on their separate ways.

*****

Meene wanted to see the sun set across the waters again. She wanted to see the sun rise across the waters again as well tomorrow. She imagined she would be boiling with anger right at this moment but that was not the case.

It had not been Meene's intention to argue with Marco. Though it had been her intention to show her outrage at his actions, especially since she was going to die tomorrow, but she knew that they were both not used to having cordial conversations with each other. They were far too used to their present relationship of arguments and work.

They had maintained it in it's present state for almost eight years, she somehow doubted that even an impending apocalypse could change the way they interacted.

To think that it started all because she 'borrowed' his car.

"Meene-san." 

A small tug was felt on her sleeve.

The voice and tugging on her sleeve surprised Meene thoroughly, she reached for her gun immediately, turned to face her addressor and pointed it at Lyserg's head. It was reflex drilled into her head ever since she was a child, to respond to surprise with deadly action. Her finger was on the trigger and the safety was off also. Lyserg looked very scared and his eyes were wide with shock.

"Lyserg, sorry you surprised the heck out of me," Meene embarrassed as she put away her gun quickly. She wasn't surprised often and most of the X-Laws had learned not to surprise her in any way ever since she accidentally shot Denbat, Porf and Larch when they decided to surprise her on her birthday in her room. She noticed that her room had been broken into and the alarm wire and booby trap had been circumvented. She readied herself for a possible enemy and followed standard room clearing procedures. She threw in a military grade flash bang to blind the 'enemies' and fired a few random shots into the room to panic them and then entered her room armed and ready to kill. Luckily, she only hit Denbat in the leg and scared the other two out of their minds when she threw in a flash bang into her room.

Surprise birthday parties in her room and surprise in general was quickly crossed out from their lists of celebrations.

Lyserg smiled weakly.

"Sorry, I forgot everyone's warning not to surprise you."

"It's alright… The sunset is really something eh?"

They stood side by side at the railings of the ship and watched. It must have been for a good hour or so that they stood their in silence and watched the passing of time through the slowly dipping sun. It was a peacefulness that Lyserg and Meene had not truly expected but nonetheless welcomed. The salt air blew in their face, soft but cold.

"Aren't you afraid?" Lyserg asked after the long stretch of silence. Meene's peacefulness in face of terrible battle was almost, for lack of a better term, 'Yoh'-like. The others were frantically preparing for battle (and secretly for funerals) but she was taking precious time to watch the sun set.

"I'd have to be insane, Lyserg, not to be afraid," Meene answered. Then there was silence between them again and the gentle lapping of the waves slapping the sides of the ship.

"But you will still fight?" Lyserg asked, there was sadness and despair in his voice.

"If I don't, who will?"

"I will... Because I'm not afraid to die… and you're too much of a good person to die," Lyserg answered mournfully, yet resolutely.

Meene tried not to laugh aloud at Lyserg's reasoning that she was too much of 'good' person to die. If only Lyserg knew about her, he would immediately reconsider his choice of words and misplaced affection for her. He was like Matty with his kindness, was that why she favored him so much? So she shuddered as she tried not to laugh bitterly at his choice of words and at the similarity of him and her dead younger 'son'.

"I'm not as good as a person as you say… Though I wish I were," Meene said quietly.

"Meene-san… Even you say you're not a good person. To me, you are. Ventar, Cebin and you have been so kind. I'm thankful for it," Lyserg said with a smile. Meene looked and saw the bruise that he had received from Marco earlier in the day blooming yellow on his cheek.

Lyserg noticed where Meene's eyes were looking.

"Oh this, it's all right now Meene-san. Marco-san didn't really mean it; he just loses his temper easily. I don't blame him… It's just that I'm so weak," Lyserg babbled a bit cringing at the look of concern that flashed across her face.

"You're not weak Lyserg… You're actually stronger than most of the X-Laws," Meene said quietly. She stared across the ocean and into the red tinted ocean. The color of the tint reminded Meene of the color of blood and her stomach lurched a bit at the thought. Lyserg looked at her baffled.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Lyserg said at last. He couldn't understand how he could possibly be stronger than most of the X-Laws. He was one of the weakest members in the entire group.

"It's because you don't look away," Meene said at last.

"What?" Lyserg asked not understanding.

"You don't look away from her and her pain. You don't look away when she enters the Iron Maiden. You don't look away when she leaves the Iron Maiden in a river of her own blood. You never look away while everyone else covers their eyes. Everyone is used to the blood including me, but I don't look at the Iron Maiden because I am tired of blood, I've seen enough of it to last me a lifetime… Only you and Marco look and see her suffering. You are a very kind boy and Marco is the shadow of a once kind man."

Another silence came about. This time it was more awkward than peaceful but they remained standing and watching until the sun extinguished itself into the now blackened waters of the sea. The once blood red tinted sea gave way to darkness. The stars began to show themselves and the moon peeked across the east.

"How can you tell me that that makes me strong? I can't avenge my parent's deaths if I'm kind. Marco… Marco tells me that I have to be cruel to do justice and I must sacrifice my life for it," Lyserg breathed out at last. The night was beginning to get cold as the sea breeze swept around him.

"Do you honestly believe that?" Meene asked, as she looked at Lyserg hard. There was no gentleness in her voice as there usually was, but there was a hardness that seemed to be amplified by the night's darkness. The shadows hid her eyes and most of her face so that Lyserg couldn't tell if she angry, sad or really feeling anything from her question.

"I… don't know," Lyserg, answered at last with every drop of honesty he could muster. A nearby light crackled to life and revealed Meene's face to him. It was a saddened look of one who truly sympathized another's pain. It was a sadness surprised him, for it was deeper than he expected. More than anything, she seemed to understand his uncertainty. She stepped forward and touched his bruised cheek gently, Lyserg felt a small shock of cold and then warmth. Her furyoku healed his cheek and the bruise disappeared, she took her hand away and stepped back with the same saddened expression.

"I'm glad that you don't know. It means you haven't reached your own conclusions yet. It would be too much of a blow to me if you thought that being cruel or dying is the only way to achieve justice, to achieve anything really… Cruelty and death can achieve so many great and terrible things but only kindness and life can achieve something that is great and truly enduring… I'm babbling… It's almost time for dinner Lyserg. You should go and get something to eat inside. I'll be in the 'vault' if you need me. Tell the others that as well. I need time alone," Meene said as she broke her gaze on Lyserg to stare out into the sea one last time.

"I'll be sure to tell the others that," Lyserg said quietly. Meene nodded and walked away from the railings. She headed towards the stairs. Lyserg strained his ears and heard the quiet words of a song Meene was singing to herself.

**__**

And you don't seem to understand  
A shame you seemed an honest man  
And all the fears you hold so dear   
Will turn to whisper in your ear  
And I know what they say might hurt you  
And you know that it means so much …

The door at the bottom of the stairs closed.

All that remained was silence once more.

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(to be continued)


	2. To Live

Please tolerate my delay.  
It's like this, I had these way cool and confusing ideas for this fanfic that I couldn't help but add.

* * *

Meene could not sleep. She also could not concentrate on translating the few remaining reports on her desk. It was a rather useless gesture on her part but she wanted to be somewhat useful on the eve before her fight.

Oh, and she was also hungry. She found out, earlier that evening, that she could not bring herself to go to the dining room to eat with everyone. Which she was feeling mildly guilty for since Cebin knocked on her door to request her presence. The Iron Maiden had joined them for dinner so they could be together and was worried about Meene's absence and Lyserg had explained that Meene wanted time alone. Jeanne, however, would like it if Meene would come down to eat with everyone.

Meene refused.

It was first time in her life that Meene had ever refused the request of Jeanne D'Arc. It must have stung the young leader very badly to be refused when all she was thinking of was Meene's well-being.

Cebin did not question why she did not want to come to dinner. He bore it with silence and nodded. He understood that Meene wanted time alone to think about everything. He also did not want to attend dinner but he indulged the Iron Maiden's wishes. Cebin would never criticize Meene for not coming.

So when Cebin returned to the dinner room by himself, Jeanne was saddened by it but did not press for details.

Marco on the other hand was a different story. Meene locked the door after Cebin left immediately. True to her predictions, after two hours of the dinner Marco came down the hallway towards the vault. His feet echoed down the length of the hall and he announced his intentions by trying to open the vault's door, only to find that it was locked.

Marco made a sigh of irritation and knocked on the door.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Hard.

"**_Meene… Open the door… We need to talk… Right now_**," Marco said in a quiet and tightly controlled voice. When Marco was enraged, he tended to talk in a quiet fuming voice that almost sounded as though he was less angry than he was in reality. Meene was surprised that Marco didn't consider ripping the door off using Michael, his mechanical angel.

"I'm busy Marco," Meene answered back in a calm voice. She wasn't but she couldn't think of a better excuse for skipping dinner. Saying nothing would only get Marco angrier.

"**_If that's the case, I'll wait until you are not busy_**," Marco said, gritting teeth and began pacing outside the door. Meene could hear his footsteps.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Stop. Turn.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Stop. Turn.

And so on.

Meene thought she would go mad as it became obvious that Marco was not going to go away any time soon and the pacing itself was annoying beyond belief. After thirty minutes Venstar came by deciding it was time to intervene, much to Meene's relief. Marco could be fairly obsessed when certain things drove him to anger. It seemed that her refusal to come to dinner was one of those things he felt he could not simply let go.

"Marco, you know that Meene can simply hole herself in there with you're pacing at the door. She's not going to open the door when you are in such a state," Venstar said to Marco in a very diplomatic voice, he had decided to come and see Meene but was greeted with the sight of Marco pacing in front of the locked door of the 'vault'. Venstar was a good head taller than Marco and was benevolently looking down upon the other man. It forced Marco to calm down considerably, though it wasn't enough to cancel out his anger. Cebin silently followed after Venstar and watched the situation.

"**_She won't open the door. She won't talk back. She is ignoring me_**," Marco noted with his fists clenched.

"I am the team captain for X-III. Let me talk to her," Venstar offered. Marco closed his eyes for a moment and thought about it. The light above him shined down in such an angle that it hid Marco's eyes from Cebin and Venstar's view. It wasn't often that Marco rested his indecipherable gaze upon Venstar, usually because Marco concentrated on winning the war and defeating his enemies.

"**_Very well then_**," Marco said in the same flat voice. He then turned around and marched down the hall but not before giving the offending door and hidden occupant one last glare of death tm.

"Meene did you do something to make Marco angry before dinner?" Cebin asked in his hoarse voice at the door. Cebin not only had his face burned off by Hao but he also had his windpipe crushed partially, causing his voice to become rasping and no voluble than a very loud whisper. Meene could barely hear Cebin's voice through the door and she sensed that Marco had stormed away. She opened the door and gave her two teammates a weak smile.

"Yeah, you could say that Cebin," Meene answered tiredly. She allowed the two into the vault and once again locked the door. Venstar walked around the cramped room and observed the scatter of half-translated papers and reports on the desk. There were crumpled pieces of paper on the ground also and pens were haphazardly strewn about the room.

"Why are you still working?" Venstar asked as he bent down to pick up the papers on the ground.

"I guess it helps me remain calm. I feel useful if I work instead of doing nothing," Meene answered as she helped Venstar clean up the mess she made on the floor. She saw that she had not picked up the reports she had dropped earlier. Cebin walked over to a pot and began preparations to make some tea for everyone. They worked in silence with complete coordination. They had known each other for at least two years, it was long enough for them to know each others place and responsibilities.

"You did realize that by refusing to come to dinner would drive Marco into a fit," Cebin finally spoke when the clean up was finished and the tea was ready.

"I knew the moment I refused… that's why I locked the door when you left," Meene answered. She took a small sip of her tea. Venstar sat down on the desk to get comfortable while Meene and Cebin remained standing.

"Well, thanks for the show. Marco must have changed into several shades of red and purple when he heard you weren't coming and was stiff all dinner long," Venstar said drolly. It had been an interesting dinner, if Meene had been there it would have been quite sedate and depressive due to tomorrow's fight but since she didn't come the atmosphere was surprisingly lighter. If having Marco angry, Jeanne bemused by the rejection, Lyserg in a panicked mood trying to calm Marco and everyone else, Denbat being the worst offender, giving absurd reasons as to why she didn't come.

* * *

At Dinner

"She has diarrhea and can't make it to dinner," Denbat suggested.

"By the Mother Mary! That's disgusting John! It is obvious that this is Marco's fault somehow," Porf announced.

"What! I haven't done anything to that… that woman!" Marco sputtered in an indignant voice. The captain of the X-Laws was in a pink apron with the words 'Kiss The Chef' on it. Marco despised the apron but Jeanne had bought it for his birthday and so he wore it with grim tolerance. It looked completely absurd on him and everyone including Jeanne knew it but he still wore it.

"Maybe she didn't want anyone to see her depressed?" Lyserg suggested trying to defuse the situation.

"I can't think of any better reason… Though she just might not be hungry," Jeanne offered.

'But Marco cooked tonight! She loves his cooking! She would eat it even if she wasn't that hungry or if she was angry at him,' Cebin noted.

"Yeah, Marco's cooking can make anyone forgive him and get on his good side," Venstar said with gusto as he ate his pasta. Tonight's menu was asparagus salad with lemon olive oil salad dressing, bread with assorted cheeses, Marco's original penne arriabiata and sorbet for dessert. Marco was an incredible cook and ate generous portions of it as well. He hated bad food as much as he hated the dark rooms. He was very particular that his food be at least tasty when cooked by the others (or when it was Meene's turn that it was something that, at least, did not taste like vinegar mixed with tar).

Marco rolled his eyes.

"I always get the feeling the only reason why I'm captain is because everyone loves my cooking and wants to suck up so they can get their favorite dishes served," Marco joked dryly.

"That's not true Marco-san… You were chosen because you also know how to sew, launder and endure shopping," Lyserg said in a light voice. There was a weak grin on his face and he noted that this was probably one of the very rare opportunities to poke fun at the otherwise stiff and unbending Roman. But the impending match of tomorrow weighed heavily on his mind still.

"Amen! To Marco, the future wife of a lucky woman!" Denbat said as he lifted his glass to toast. Unfortunately Marco could only endure so much teasing in one round.

"That's it! No dessert for you!" Marco said as he scowled at Denbat. Marco failed to realize that he just did an inadvertent imitation of the Soup Nazi in Seinfield. Venstar, Larch and Porf (being Americans and thus had watched the show before) tried not to laugh but they were cracking up. The European members of the X-Laws failed see what was funny.

Denbat went into three distinct phases as Marco's announcement raced through his head.

Stunned silence;

"…"

Denial;

"WHAT? NOOOO!"

And finally… panic.

"MY DESERT!"

A round of laughter erupted. Jeanne giggled at the entire situation. The air was not depressing any more, it had lightened. Though tomorrow would be painful for them all, they wanted to laugh one last time together. To chase away dark thoughts and forget for one blissful moment, that this dinner together as a (almost) whole group was to be their last.

* * *

"I see that it was a good thing that I didn't come to dinner at all," Meene smiled as she tried to imagine the situation and was sure it was pretty funny. There was brief spell of silence before it became obvious that the time for jokes and laughter had passed now.

"You haven't been yourself since the Shaman fight notice on the Oracle Bells," Cebin observed. Meene took in a deep breath and stared at the ceiling above her.

"Would you believe me if I say I am afraid?" Meene asked.

"You would have to be insane not to be afraid," Venstar answered. Meene almost laughed.

"That's what I said to Lyserg, but I can't bring myself to get over it," Meene said in a defeated voice but there was an hardness to it. Fear was not something that paralyzed her from taking action often. She remember on three situations before that made her freeze with inaction and doubt. The "Death Dancer" incident in Yugoslavia, "Dante's Hell" in Sudan and at the "Gates" in Ukraine. Every other battle, campaign, mission and combat she never feared for her life. It was only in situations when the chances of survival was less than five percent that she froze up. Her upcoming battle with Hao was a situation with a chance of survival of exactly zero percent.

"You're considering running away, aren't you?" Venstar said it as a statement, not as a question.

"Yes I am," Meene affirmed without skipping a beat. She waited for Cebin and Venstar's reaction and was surprised to see they were not horrified or angry with her answer. Both said nothing.

"Have you run away before?" Cebin asked. Meene said nothing for a moment and stared at the ceiling, eyes fixed on nothing in particular and let her voice drift in memory.

"Once. I tried to once… I… Couldn't because Chr… Commander D'Arc called me back… She asked everyone came back to fight at the 'Gates' in Ukraine. She actually asked rather than commanded us to return. We had a choice on that day. There, we weren't nephilims… We weren't wanna-be saints or forsaken sinners… We were children on the brink of adulthood. And we sacrificed too much to get to that point…"

Venstar and Cebin was surprised. Meene was never forthcoming with her past or previous experience in the Order. They had only heard bits and pieces of the doings of the Church in other areas but they never imagined that the rumored battle in Ukraine had actually happened. They also did not hear much of the cursed nephilims or of the previous Iron Maiden except from questionable second hand sources.

"I know how you feel… Fear, terror… I was in the desert during the Gulf War. We were ambushed by an Iraqi division and suffered losses, we managed to beat them off but… I was terrified at the sound of guns. I was part of the most advance military in the world in that desert, but that meant nothing when Hao…" Venstar trailed off, he sought ways to keep Meene from losing her nerves and simply refusing to comply with orders. He couldn't exactly blame Meene for balking at her orders, they were a death sentence but such an action would be treachery. Thus, he related his war experience with Meene's battle experience. This was what he could understand. What he could use to convince her, the stale fear of death and the guilt for surviving.

But there was an aspect of Meene's experience that Venstar could not understand.

"Oh no… You don't understand. During the final battle certain members of the Order switched sides… My 'older brother' Alexander was on the enemies side, he refused to come back. So when we met on the battlefield, I killed him… And by virtue of blood relations, the enemy at the "Gates" were my brothers and sisters, my family whom I would never know. We were all descendents of Samael… Somehow I doubt that in Iraq you had to face your own former comrades in arms and family in combat."

Meene said it dully. She did not sound as though she resented Venstar's and Cebin's pity but rather she was weary.

"I'm sorry," Venstar said automatically and realized that was one of the worst thing to say. Anyone could say 'sorry' and not understand.

"Everyone says they are sorry," Meene answered in the same dull voice.

To say that the lack of emotion from Meene was worrisome was a gross understatement. Cebin and Venstar found it frightening because it meant that she was in the first stages of considering alternative choices that ranged from unpleasant to immoral to soul chillingly evil.

Cebin looked at his tea hard and drank it down in one scalding gulp.

"In the end though, you had a choice. You choose to remain and fight. Do you regret your decision?" Cebin asked.

"No… I don't regret it… I almost never regret my decisions. I suspect if I run away from tomorrow's battle, I will only feel horror but I would not regret it… I would only feel the same horror as I did when I killed Matty. I said that I would give my life to make a paradise on earth but I'm too much of an coward to make that come true. I want to live to see that paradise, I don't want to die to make it."

Venstar and Cebin said nothing. Meene rarely ever mentioned her past or her dead 'son'. The horrors that she had seen and inflicted was hidden under bright smiles that never warmed her eyes and kind words that never moved her heart. A mask that everyone preferred to see because beneath was far too frightening to bare to anyone.

Right now they saw the face of a young woman who had lived through far too many harsh choices and chose the ones that kept herself alive.

"To feel the horror of it means that you do regret Meene. And your want to make a paradise on earth means you want to make amends to your sins," Venstar answered eventually. He was quickly coming to the realization that Meene was considering abandoning them before the match started.

Would Meene feel saddened if her teammates died? Yes.

Would she feel guilty if she decided to abandon them? That was something they weren't sure of.

Nevertheless, they knew she had an obligation to the X-Laws. An obligation that she would carry through to the bitter end if it was strong enough to compel her so.

"Is it really? If sin can be forgiven, then it is not a sin… At least that is what I have been taught," Meene said. There was a knot of acrimony in her voice and a cold ironic smile as she stared back at Cebin and Venstar. Her green eyes no longer mildly friendly but sharp and searching.

"I think all you need really is some time," Cebin noted.

"Time? I had time enough to decide really," Meene answered back. Now she smiled as though it was all a great joke, the darkness in her eyes was concealed again. She saw the looks on Cebin and Venstar's faces and realized that her hidden side was bleeding through her mask again.

"I think differently. Tomorrow Meene arrive at the stadium alone, use your trip alone to decide what you want to do…" Venstar ordered as he set his cup down on Meene's desk. For now, Venstar would cajole her with her sense of responsibility and duty.

"I just told you that I might abandon you at the match and you are giving the opportunity and time to run away?… No one would ever agree to let such an order fly," Meene noted grimly.

Cebin put his cup on the desk also and walked past her towards the door.

"Cebin and I are prepared," Venstar said as he left Meene alone in the 'vault', he needed to talk to Marco as soon as possible.

"And we cannot abandon the world at its moment of need," Cebin said quietly.

Meene blinked at Cebin's and Venstar's statements.

The door closed. Meene was left alone again and began wondering. She wondered if Venstar and Cebin knew what they were doing. Were they serious about letting her go to the stadium alone, knowing full well that she might abandon them at their match. Was it trust? Stupidity? Or maybe they had said those words to trap her in guilt and duty to compel her to fight.

"How can I abandon the world, when the world abandoned me?" Meene asked but Venstar and Cebin were too far away to hear.

* * *

Hours latter and still no sleep was to be had.

Meene wondered if she could get away with passing out due to lack of sleep as she walked to the stadium and thus avoid her match. She would have plausible deniability then.

Nah.

There wasn't any idiot in the world who would believe that sort of excuse.

Midnight had passed and time continued to tick away the precious seconds to the fated match. Meene had done her rosarios badly. She stumbled over the familiar Latin words and found that she could barely announce the mysteries because they were not the greatest of comfort to her. It just had to be Friday of all days when she had to do the _Mysteria Dolorosa_, sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.

Thinking of the agony that Christ suffered did not comfort her or give her strength. In fact it made her all the more aware of just how painful her last moments of life would be if she went to her match.

Yes it was rather selfish of her to think of her own situation in such a light and diminish Christ's suffering but she was selfish.

And she was afraid.

Meene threw her rosary on table in the vault and left it there. She needed a walk, the time of prayers had passed. Soon it would be the time of decisions and life hanging in the balance.

She never thought it would be so hard to make such a choice in silence. There were no bullets whizzing around her head like angry flies; there were no booming explosions throwing dirt, blood and flesh in the air; nor was there the screams of the dying, the living and the killers.

There was none of that, the familiar background where death stalked every decision made.

There was only silence here in the ship.

Or there would be if Meene didn't hear the familiar footsteps of a stranger in the hallway she just entered. A door opened somewhere and shut, the sound echoed for a short distance. Meene froze and frowned, it was far too late for anyone to be up normally and the door she heard opening creaked more loudly than the bathroom door. The sound of the door shutting was metal on metal, not wood on metal, as well. The entire length of the hallway had wooden doors, except for the kitchen door at the very end of its length and the vault.

Meene slowly eased herself down the hallway and took out her gun silently as she came closer and closer to the kitchen at the end of the hall. She heard the shuffling of feet in the kitchen and some bumps but the noise in the kitchen soon stopped but Meene strained her ears and heard the sound of a container being opened.

Meene frowned and then stopped to listen closely for more sounds by pressing her ear at the door.

She heard the sound wet munching.

With that Meene holstered her weapon and opened the door without fear. It was probably Denbat trying to steal some desert that Marco had denied him… Then Meene stopped when she saw who it actually was.

It was a remarkable sight. The Iron Maiden was on a midnight kitchen raid and was eating the strawberries in the fridge. The fridge door was still open and bathed Jeanne in it's artificial light, Meene could clearly see that Jeanne had been completely startled. Jeanne's eyes were wide with surprise and the container of strawberries in her lap were forgotten.

Strawberries.

In fact now that Meene thought about it… Strawberries with chocolate sauce sounded very tasty indeed. Meene walked over to the fridge to see if there was any chocolate sauce left.

Jeanne attempted to gather her lost dignity after being discovered but only ended up like a little girl who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. It struck Meene at that moment just how young the X-Laws leader really was at that moment. Meene grabbed a small bowl in the fridge and saw that it was chocolate sauce.

Perfect.

Meene turned to give Jeanne a somber look.

"Strawberries go well with chocolate sauce," Meene stated seriously. A flicker of confusion was in Jeanne's eye when her brain began processing the words.

"I thought you were going to say something else," Jeanne said amused. Meene shut the fridge door and sat down besides the young girl and removed the saran wrap. Jeanne eagerly dipped a strawberry into the chocolate sauce and ate it.

They said no words between themselves and continued to eat the strawberries and chocolate sauce. It was an almost companionable silence that both were unwilling to break. There was only the scent of strawberries, chocolate and blood that made a heady concoction between them, it made Meene feel uncomfortable. It was only after they had eaten all the strawberries that they deemed it the time to talk.

"Should I ask why you are up so late?" Jeanne asked calmly as daintily wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. The chocolate was smeared on the corner of Jeanne lips, and made her look like a child.

'What am I thinking… Of course she's a child but she is beyond that,' Meene thought to herself.

"I should ask that question to you… Oh and you missed a spot," Meene said and pointed to the chocolate smear. Meene's eyes could see in the darkness easily, it was a natural ability of hers, while Jeanne struggled to see anything with the minimal moonlight that came in through the windows.

Jeanne did not drop her dignified pretense but she used her handkerchief a bit more vigorously to remove the smear. It was past midnight, Jeanne was dressed in her slightly bloodied night dress pants with a large oversized blanket to cover her naked top, raided the fridge for a midnight snack and she still acted with extreme dignity.

Somehow, the picture was contradictory that it made Meene wonder if she was dreaming. If only Christina was alive to see this. Meene was sure her former superior officer would wibble at the cuteness of it and at the same time be repulsed by it. Jeanne's wounds may of healed and there was no dripping or drying blood on her except on her pants but the scent of blood and strawberries was heavy in the air.

"Why did you not come to dinner? It was the last meal that you and everyone else could have together, I will not be available for breakfast tomorrow," Jeanne asked politely. Meene noted that if Jeanne was anything like her older sister Christina, then she would ask the question with biting sarcasm.

Something along the lines of…

"I'm glad you deem yourself worthy for food now when earlier you decided to starve. Tell me do you have any more childish antics you plan on doing to share with me as you do fifty push ups?"

Jeanne waited for an answer.

Oh, that and Christina would undoubtedly kick Meene's ass for acting like such a 'brat'. Meene was eternally thankful that Christina was nothing like Kyouyama Anna, fiancée of Asakura Yoh. Christina was half as scary as the young itako, which was still scary enough to make someone immune to Marco's glare and various death threats. To be a little less harsh on her former superior officer in the Order, Christina's scariness was somewhat offset by her thing with cute kittens, claustrophobia, fear of the dark, paranoia and relationship with Adalia Vasquez, the Iron Maiden before Jeanne and Christina.

"I just wanted time alone," Meene finally answered.

"I see…" Jeanne said as she stood up.

"… Um… Mademoiselle D'Arc?" Meene said as she stood up also. There was a note of curiosity in it that Jeanne could hear.

"You wish to ask a question?" Jeanne waited for Meene to ask.

"Um… yeah, if you were in the Iron Maiden and in the bilge… How did you get out to raid the kitchen?" Meene asked, Meene was busy trying to figure the mystery out in her head.

Jeanne stopped moving towards the hallway and blushed in the darkness.

"Well… Don't tell Marco but I sometimes get Monsieur Porf not to lower me into the bilge while inside the Iron Maiden… He knows of my late night kitchen raiding habit," Jeanne answered, she sounded somewhat embarrassed and giggled a bit.

"Oh," Meene intoned, fully understanding now. It sounded just like Porf to indulge in such a simple request like an opportunity to have a midnight snack. It was in Porf's nature to make everyone as comfortable as possible.

Meene opened the kitchen door and allowed Jeanne out first. Together they walked the length of the ship, towards the Iron Maiden of Roses rested. Their journey was swift but silent because they had to pass through the sleeping quarters of the X-Laws.

The lights to the small private chapel was on and occupied. Both Jeanne and Meene passed in silence without looking in. It would not do to disrupt someone's praying and breach their privacy.

Eventually they arrived at their destination. Meene threw on the lights and was greeted by the sight of the Iron Maiden of Roses, hanging from the ceiling by numerous thick chains. The 'face' of the Iron Maiden stared down upon the two as they entered the bilge.

The Iron Maiden of Roses was a bloody contraption from Medieval times. It was made of iron melted down from, according to legend, the thousand swords of the brave First Crusaders who entered the Holy City of Jerusalem. The Church quietly gathered the swords in secret for almost five hundred years before making it.

Meene knew her medieval history well, due to the efforts of Sir Sou Lin Hao, and found that the idea unnerving to the extreme. The First Crusaders massacred the people of Jerusalem. The weapons of a massacre would be used in such a relic and in turn be used by the Church to do good. It was something that Christina had noted and balked at when she inherited the Iron Coffin, as it was more commonly called.

What Meene balked at was not the bloody history and supposed origin of the Iron Maiden of Roses but what was inside the it. The unnerving sight of huge thorny rose vines encased within that would wrap itself around its occupant and cause massive amounts of pain and provide a means of increasing furyoku. The idea of a child willingly submitting themselves to such a bloody torture boggled her mind. She still failed to see how the Iron Maiden could possibly raise the furyoku level of Shamans through torture.

But here was Jeanne D'Arc, the Iron Maiden, who did so with a saintly aura and was becoming ever increasingly powerful because of it.

And unwittingly halving her life by enduring the duress of the torture.

Jeanne, fortunately (or was it unfortunately?) didn't know of the price extracted from her in the Iron Maiden. She probably thought that the pain, the darkness and the isolation was the price for power.

Meene had no intention of telling her the truth… At least not right now, not during the most critical phases of the war against Asakura Hao. Sometimes the truth had to buried for victory to be possible, but it didn't mean it was an easy decision.

Or perhaps it was just that Meene was not comfortable with the idea that Jeanne would easily accept the side effect and continue on torturing herself inside the Iron Maiden. That Jeanne would willing accept halving her life in exchange for victory.

Jeanne gave Meene a soft smile and folded the blanket she had around her body before the giant preternatural rose vines grabbed her body and carried her inside the Iron Maiden. The thorns dug into flesh and blood slowly trickled from the wounds, fortunately the metal door of the Iron Maiden shut itself with a loud metallic bang, enclosing Jeanne within and hiding the bloody method of torture. Meene felt mildly ill when the vines grabbed Jeanne and looked away from the sight automatically. Meene had seen the same scene hundreds of times with Adalia Vasquez, Christina D'Arc and Jeanne D'Arc but it never failed to make her feel ill. Familiarity did not breed contempt in Meene but rather enforced what was already hardwired into her brain.

The Iron Maiden of Roses was a death trap.

Meene had seen far too many would-be Iron Maidens die in the thing. A dozen young girls and young women who tried and failed, dying within hours or, worse, within days of entering it. Those young women spent their last hours of life in various ways. Some screaming in pain; Screaming for death; Screaming curses; Screaming blasphemies. Or most unsettling of all, some accepting their failure quietly and going peacefully to the arms of the Creator.

The rare few who survived became the Iron Maiden.

"Are you ready to be lowered into the bilge?" Meene asked quietly when it seemed like Jeanne had settled into the Iron Coffin. No not a coffin, no matter how many died within it, it was the Iron Maiden of Roses, she reminded herself. Meene had picked up the slightly bloody blanket and held in the crook of her arm.

"No, I am not," Jeanne answered back. Meene was surprised and waited for Jeanne to speak up again.

"I am disturbed by your reports of the lack of inroads we have made in general Shaman population in regards to our war against Asakura Hao. Despite the X-Laws deeds and words, you report significant reluctance or outright rejection for cooperation from a majority of Shamans, independent or otherwise. I don't understand what we are doing wrong," Jeanne stated it crisply and with genuine concern but there was a slice of D'Arc resentment. No matter how politely Jeanne worded it, Meene could easily pick up the glimmer of resentment in her voice.

In the twenty one years of her brief life had Meene ever heard or seen an Iron Maiden resent. Even the candidates of the Iron Maiden of Roses, that is before they entered it, never resented anything. Well except for Commander Christina D'Arc but she was an eternal pessimist and cynic before she acquired the position, so the Commander did not count.

"Can you remember the Cowboys team and their 'April Fools' joke a year ago?" Meene asked.

"What has that got to do with…" Jeanne began bewildered how it had anything with the situation.

"Do you remember?" Meene asked once more.

"Yes… I do."

It was a bizarre spectacle to say the least, furyoku enhanced cows trampled Marco and most of the other X-Laws on the early morning of April 1st while the shamans from Cowboys attempted to hogtie Meene to kidnap her. All the while shouting about rescuing Meene and stopping brainwashing. It was all very odd and ended up with Jeanne having to appear, save Meene and forcefully remove Cowboys. The cows even had their own name tags on them and were of a rather pinkish hue when they attacked. The idea that pink cows with names like Marble, Dinner and Sally defeating the X-Laws was humiliating enough. Cleaning up the mess, however, was sheer torture.

The reasons for the attempt in kidnapping never was seriously revealed but then again, Jeanne never bothered seriously asking since it seemed like some fantastic prank rather than a serious attack. No one was seriously injured, despite the vast majority of X-Laws getting run over by a flood of pink furyoku enhanced cows.

It was in Marco's opinion, before he stormed off to take a long shower, that Meene's judgment should have precedent on the entire thing since she was personal friends with the shamans of Cowboys.

Meene's answer was that it was a 'April Fools' joke gone too far.

"Now do you remember what they were shouting about?" Meene asked.

"It was something along the lines of 'we got a room ready to cure you Meene' or something similar. They were acting rather frightened about something but it was all part of the practical joke," Jeanne answered.

"Actually… It wasn't a practical joke or an act. Somewhere down the line the Cowboys got the idea in their heads that you were the leader of a cult and that you had brainwashed me into being one of your loyal angels."

"… A cult! They think we're a cult!" Jeanne was aghast at the thought. Meene shifted from one foot to another trying to figure out a way to lessen Jeanne's incredulity.

"Well… with our uniforms, our beliefs that you are the prophet to lead all of humanity to paradise among other things, do have a tendency of… er… causing misunderstandings amongst most Shamans… I mean with Adalia and Christina, the Church and most people never claimed they were saviors of the world or of the sort," Meene coughed.

Jeanne said nothing.

"Hey don't act too shocked… I mean it's better than that really weird belief running around the Shamanic community that the X-Laws was some sort of pop/rock and roll group when the X-Laws were first formed," Meene attempted to joke about the issue to make Jeanne relax and not over react.

"You didn't have to bring that up," Jeanne said in a voice full of patient suffering. If she wasn't encased within the Iron Maiden of Roses, she would have massaged her forehead to futilely ward away a developing headache.

"If you want more information, the reports on my desk should give you an idea of the public perception of the X-Laws among shamans… Also Christina's last words and will is written down and stored in a Swiss Bank account in Zurich should you desire to read it. I transferred the key and account information to Marco awhile ago, so just ask him when this is all over," Meene saluted the Iron Maiden.

"You didn't call Christina, Commander D'Arc," Jeanne observed. To a certain extent, the idea that Meene was going to die tomorrow seemed surreal to Jeanne. She had ordered executions before but she had never ordered someone in the X-Laws to die to defeat Asakura Hao.

"… I didn't mean to call her by name… She was a good knight."

"Wasn't she more of a friend?"

"… In a way she was like an older sister to the members of the Order."

Jeanne smiled sadly as she tried to imagine Christina acting sisterly to anyone. Christina D'Arc was a difficult individual to befriend, respect was almost automatic but Christina could never seem to find a way to bridge the gap to understanding Jeanne.

Their mother, Catherine D'Arc, had raised them very differently. Christina was a neglected child and hard to deal with. She had been raised on books, harsh experiences, the tremendous responsibility foisted upon her by the Catholic church and the expectations of her equally neglectful father, whom Jeanne could not remember his name or noble title. What Jeanne did know was the marriage of Catherine D'Arc and the nobleman was described as something of a disaster. Thus Christina had been born into a loveless family, a father who cared nothing about his daughter but the prestige she brought and a mother who could never come to look upon her with love or pride. Whether it was because Catherine D'Arc was too young, she was sixteen when she gave birth to Christina, to deal with motherhood or too frustrated at her limited life to care was not known by Jeanne.

All Jeanne knew for a fact was that Catherine D'Arc poured all her heart into raising Jeanne. As though Catherine wanted to make up for her inability to love Christina. Jeanne heard from her mother of vague references to Christina and some of her accomplishments but they were never held with pride or even familiarity, only sadness. Catherine was a mere observer in the events of her oldest daughter's life and nothing more.

When Catherine D'Arc returned to Italy to face the ecclesiastical court for an annulment of her first marriage. Jeanne and her father, Adrienne Baudot, came with Catherine.

It was… interesting to say none the least when they arrived. 'De civitate Dei' was a most mystical place. One that could only be entered by those with shamanic powers or at least those with the powers to see spirits. Even then the secret words of entry had to be said to certain doors and gates to allow passage to the secret place. It was much like the Patch village but on a bigger scale.

Jeanne remembered Arrach Roth, the grim fortress in the Sea of Dust where Christina D'Arc was posted as Commander of the Order of the Repenting Ones. She remembered the soaring cathedrals and white marble steps of the 'road to Heaven'. The thick ancient walls of the 'Ancilis' that surrounded the city, raised by Christians during the Crusades to protect itself from attacks of Salahudin Ayyubi who had sent a formidable secret army of faithful Muslim imams and shamans to harass the heart of Catholic Christianity.

(Sometimes… The secret history of it all gave Jeanne headaches. If she was to claim any of the items above as facts, she would regarded as crazy by the general populace or a deranged fan of alternative history/fantasy… On top of being a creepy looking pseudo-albino girl.)

But most of all… She remembered her father's and mother's funeral after arriving in Italy in less than a month. A horrible car accident (some whispered murder but Jeanne didn't believe any of it) that claimed both their lives. The funeral took place in 'de civitate Dei' with full honors and recognition of Catherine D'Arc and Adrienne Baudot's marriage, the annulment of Catherine D'Arc's previous marriage was recognized.

It all happened so quickly. Jeanne had met Marco and Father Rasso only a week before her parents death and was adopted by them. It hurt Jeanne to no end that Christina did not adopt her or recognize Jeanne as her step-sister. But there was reason to believe that there was something going on in the background that Jeanne was not privy to.

If Marco or Father Rasso knew what it was about, they did not breathe a word of it.

Jeanne did not question them about it. People did things with the best intentions.

Like when Christina D'Arc reluctantly became the Iron Maiden immediately after Catherine D'Arc's death despite her previous virulent refusals to accept the position. It was too soon after Adalia Vasquez's, the Iron Maiden before Christina, death. A little over a month really.

Jeanne remembered the reluctance of Christina to accept the position of the Iron Maiden.

That was a major difference between Christina and Jeanne.

Unlike Christina, Jeanne chose to become the Iron Maiden when the opportunity presented itself. Unlike Christina who became the Iron Maiden for reasons beyond Jeanne's knowledge and with great reluctance.

"What did she say before she died?" Jeanne asked and saw Meene flinch at the question. It was rare to see Meene physically react to a question.

"Please don't ask what she said as she died. Those words weren't for me to hear, I just happened to be there at the time… and some of those words were not for you either, they were for someone else whom I will not name… The Commander loved that person very much and hoped desperately to see that person again after death," Meene said this as she ran her hand through her hair as she remembered.

Meene remembered the sheer horror and morbid fascination of watching Christina D'Arc; Commander of the Repenting Ones, Iron Maiden and Justicar, die from her wounds. A spear thrown from a flying nephilim broke through the spiritual shield thrown up by shield bearers in the final charge. The force of the blow knocked Christina from her charging mount and the spear literally skewered her to the ground through the abdomen. It was fortunate that the charging line was thin and did not present a situation where the horses could crush Christina underfoot. The last attack was a success but it resulted in heavy causalities, there was not enough unhurt or living medics to attend to all the injured.

This unfortunately meant a slow and lingering death for Commander D'Arc. Meene was forced to only sit, watch and listen to Christina D'Arc's final words.

"So you won't tell me anything at all? I was there at the end of the battle, I wasn't there in the thick of the fighting but I saw the devastation. I remember Mathieu desperately healing as I provided furyoku for him to use. He was hysterical as he tried everything to save everyone around us… We could barely do anything to save anyone," Jeanne spoke with sadness.

"…"

Meene stood in silence and looked at the Iron Maiden straight.

"All right then… All right I'll tell you," Meene sighed as she edited Christina D'Arc's final words in her head.

"That stupid foolish girl… Does she honestly mean to shoulder the world's pain by herself?… That's too harsh of a task for anyone. To be so alone… There are too many sorrows, too many regrets in this world to face alone… Jeanne, mon petit soeur, I am sorry that you are a stranger to me…"

Jeanne said nothing. Meene knew that Jeanne would not speak again nor respond so in the silence she lowered the Iron Maiden into the bilge. Meene turned off the lights and quietly left the bilge.

Jeanne mulled over the words in the silence and in the darkness.

* * *

Meene felt a very small degree of guilt. Which she crushed easily under her well practiced ability to ignore her conscience.

What she had told Jeanne D'Arc was not the entire truth. The last words of Christina D'Arc was more of a lurid confession of her sins, her deeds and regrets. A truth that would forever besmirch the D'Arc family forever if it ever came out in it's entirety.

As far as Meene knew, she was the only one who knew the complete truth. And she was willing to keep it that way, buried for the rest of her life until death.

Sunrise was hours away, meaning that Meene had more than enough time to waste before her match. She could not sleep and she did not want to. So she walked down the hall of the ship aimlessly until at last she was approaching the chapel once more. Whoever was inside still remained there and she was curious to see who it was.

"Oh Father in heaven, gird us with your strength. Sweet Jesus, son of God, pray for our souls. Mary, merciful mother, brush away our tears…" Lyserg voice floated in the air unsure until he stopped awkwardly as though praying aloud was somehow not allowed.

"… There's more to that prayer I suppose?" Marco quietly asked.

Meene stopped by the door of the chapel and saw Marco and Lyserg both kneeling at the altar. Hands clasped in prayer, side by side.

"… I don't remember the rest of the prayer…" Lyserg admitted nervously.

"Why is that?" Marco asked.

"… I never paid attention to my mom when she said this prayer. She only said it once every Christmas and New Years with my dad and me," Lyserg continued quietly.

"… You want to make something up or do you want me to make up something to finish the prayer?" Marco's voice was soft, as though he was doubting in his own ability to offer up a prayer. Which was silly in Meene's opinion since Marco was raised by Luchist and was an active churchgoer when he was young. Not to mention a champion ranter and able babbler of the seemingly profound but actually empty flowery polite language.

"No… I want to finish this myself… It's for Cebin, Venstar and Meene," Lyserg said. His voice was sorrowful but was making every attempt in trying not to cry.

"Don't push yourself too hard…"

"… Marco… Do we really have to go through with the match tomorrow?"

There was sorrow… Such deep angry sorrow in Lyserg's voice. Meene felt like an intruder standing by the chapel doors and listening in. For a moment, Lyserg sounded much like Mathieu. Young, innocent and full of incomprehensible rage at the injustice done to everyone and his inability to do anything.

"No, we don't have to go through with the match…" Marco admitted calmly.

"Then why don't we just have X-III resign from the match! Are you really so heartless as to make Meene and the others fight against Hao!" Lyserg angrily demanded, frustrated. Meene was surprised that Lyserg got angry at Marco. Usually Lyserg acted with careful consideration and respect to the older man.

"I said, no we don't have to go through the match because there is a choice to decide. Go through with the match or not to go through with it. The X-Laws have chosen to go through with the match because we felt that it is required," Marco said in his eerily calm voice. Meene knew that beneath anger was boiling and hurt at the accusation that he was heartless towards his fellow X-Laws.

"How can you be so calm… It's as if you don't care…" Lyserg seemed to remember himself and was trying to calm down. There was still so much hurt and resentment at Marco's seemingly heartless cold response.

"Don't you dare accuse me of not caring! I have fought with them, lost with them, laughed with them, cried with them and much more far longer than you, boy! It hurts me, just as it hurts you!" Marco exploded in a seething voice. Meene saw that Marco made no move to harm Lyserg in response to the accusation. Marco was just very still, though his shoulders trembled with effort not to lash out at Lyserg for daring to say he did not care for the fate of his fellow X-Laws.

"… It's just not fair…" Lyserg whispered, realizing his lack of tact earlier.

"I never said it was fair. If it was our team, X-I, who was going to face down Hao… Would you demand that we resign from the match?" Marco asked harshly.

"No," Lyserg answered immediately. There was determination and hatred in his voice.

There was an awkward silence between the two.

"I'm sorry… I just don't want the X-Laws seen as weak in front of our enemies and disappoint everyone who wants Hao defeated. The X-Laws are a representation of the ideals of justice and righteousness… I can't tell if it's stubborn pride, justice or cold practicality that drives us to this match. All I know is, if we fail to confront Hao in this match… What would happen? What kind of message would we send to the entire Shaman community? That the appointed protectors and avengers against Asakura Hao were too afraid to confront him? That we are nothing more than cowardly hypocrites? That Hao is truly invincible and we shouldn't bother fighting against him?" Marco quietly spoke. He paused for a moment and continued.

"I don't want Venstar, Cebin and Meene to die… I would do anything in my power to keep them alive. But I am but a mere mortal. I am too weak to keep this from happening, Jeanne-sama is a match for Hao but she needs to have a decisive edge over him to defeat him permanently…"

"Marco-san… Will we defeat Hao?" Lyserg asked once more.

"Yes, we will win," Marco answered.

Meene left the two alone in the silence of the chapel. The man and boy, there was barely anything physical to link the two as similar to each other. Side to side the differences were glaring in fact.

Lyserg was short for his age and overly effeminate, though after an extensive search and viewing pictures of the late Sir Liam Diethyl as a child and contrasting it to adulthood pictures it seemed that Lyserg was destined to 'grow' into his gender in the future. Sir Liam Diethyl proved to be rather effeminate looking as a young child himself.

Marco on the other hand, was tall, masculine and built like a member of the special forces. Actually that was pretty accurate seeing that Marco was once in the Carabinieri as part of his conscription service in Italy. An idealist in many things and at the same time a cynic in others. A poor Calabrian village boy who grew up to be a rich Roman city man. The old calluses on his hand that once came from farming was now replaced by calluses from using weapons. From a plowshare to a sword, not the other way around, as Marco once openly mused to his fellow X-Laws.

Meene's memories of her first meeting with Marco were something that never failed to put a slight smile on her face. A sputtering indignant off-duty Carabinieri who got shot in the stomach by a rubber bullet and trying desperately to regain his breath. All this while a thirteen year old girl was hotwiring his very expensive and powerful Ferrari to chase after the 'L'amante Di Morte'.

Has it really been almost eight years from that first meeting? Has it been three years since Catherine D'Arc had died? Has it been two years since she joined the X-Laws?

Meene smiled sadly and walked towards the upper deck of the ship. The night was going to be long and the stars were bright though very odd. The last time she checked before entering the Patch Village the night sky revealed summer constellations… But tonight she could see Andromeda and Cygnus together. It was very fascinating to look upwards into the night sky here in the vicinity of Patch Village because the stars were always changing their positions or disappearing entirely only to reappear within a few nights and such. There was no explanation for it but Meene didn't bother trying to figure out the logic behind all of it.

Meene looked about for the deck chair that was usually out for her observation of the night sky. It did not surprise her that there was also a blanket and note set out on top of the deck chair.

Getting a cold before the day of the match is inexcusable… and for your information I am still very angry at you.

_Marco_

Meene sighed and crumpled up the note. She set herself down on the deck chair while pulling the blanket over herself. The night air was brisk but luckily the wind was gentle.

The hours were spent looking at the familiar and strange sky. Stars appeared and disappeared in strange intervals or became strange colors such as blue, green and red for no apparent reason. The moon waxed and waned though only minutes would pass and unnervingly the sky black out and hide away all the shining stars. Tonight's odd performance was particularly active with no rhyme or reason to discern.

Each hour marched towards the fated match and the stars moved on as night was beginning to come to its end. Meene had lost track of time almost and lost interest in the stars when she came to the realization that dawn would be there soon. She was a bit cold despite the very warm blanket Marco had set out for her but she ignored it. The steam rose from her warm breath and she got up from the deck chair to go towards the east side of the ship where the stars were fading from an approaching orange and red tinge that signaled a coming dawn. There was still time before the dawn still though and Meene found the sky black and cold, the stars had either fled from the approaching dawn or dawn had burned them away. All she saw was the coming red and orange tinge of skyline and then a pitch purple black night sky receding away.

She really needed to talk to Shaman Fight Official to find about what was up with the night sky here in Patch Village. It was starting to drive her batty, at least the moon didn't wink in and out like a light being switched on and off.

Without the stars to keep her company, Meene found that she needed to keep herself busy to keep from thinking about the upcoming match she had.

This was where the Oracle Bell proved handy.

The Oracle Bell was not a user friendly piece of equipment. There was only six buttons on the thing, four of them were directional buttons while the other two buttons alternative between cancel, confirm and a host of other functions that changed depending on the situation and commands previously entered. She spent a number of hours with Denbat experimenting what combinations of buttons did what when they got bored. They eventually came to realization that they would never completely figure out the Oracle Bell. In the process they did become the most accomplished users of the Oracle Bell… Though that wasn't exactly something they were proud of nor was it something they wanted Marco to know.

Why is that? Because that meant that Meene and Denbat obviously had far too much free time if they were playing around with the Oracle Bell for hours on end. So Marco upped the training for both of them and increased the number of their missions and assignments.

So in honor of that memory, she followed the modus operandi of the experimentation. She pressed the buttons randomly for old times sake.

Up. Up. Down. Down. Right. Left. Right. Left.

The screen was blinking and making chirping noises. Meene raised an eyebrow and did another random button pushing marathon.

Up. Left. Down. Right. Up. Left. Down. Right.

The Oracle Bell did another cheerful chirp and then revealed a list of names.

"Hey… What do you know… I find something new everyday with this thing…" Meene muttered to herself, sounding not in the least bit impressed by the overly complicated combination needed to access this particular feature of the Oracle Bell. She didn't care if the Patch were proud of their little gizmo and hawked it as the best little electrical gadget out there since the Palm Pilot… It didn't tell the time or date, nor did allow e-mailing or internet access or any sort of communication. Hell, it didn't even play MP3s. In short it was fairly useless unless it was tenuously connected with the Shaman Fight. Moreover the FAQ in the Oracle Bell (which could be accessed with a short seven combo command) did not list the commands of the Oracle Bell and forced users to scroll down the FAQ list to find the answers to their questions.

In short, the Oracle Bell was something that pissed Meene off to a certain degree because there was a chance that the features in the stupid gizmo could aid in the X-Laws fight against Asakura Hao but they would never be found because of the awkwardness of using it in the first place.

Meene casually scrolled down the list and a name grabbed her attention.

Denbat, John.

She accessed Denbat's profile and was greeted with the sight of large numbers that filled the screen.

9800

'What the hell?' Meene wondered as she tried to make sense of the number.

She then accessed Marco's profile and got a number as well.

13000

Meene paused and thought for a moment. She vaguely recalled that the Patch had somehow calculated the furyoku of each individual Shaman numerically and wondered if the numbers represented furyoku.

Meene accessed her profile.

"Hey… I have 8500. Not bad…"

A thought occurred to her and she quickly searched the Oracle Bell for Asakura Hao's profile. The number she saw almost made her heart leap out of her chest and run screaming into the sea in terror.

'No way…'

And then came the fatal sunrise, burning away the night at last and revealing the deadly morrow.


	3. To Die

**BLESSING BEFORE MEALS**

Bénedic, Dómine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen.

**Bless us, O Lord, and these gifts which we are about** **to receive from thy bounty,** **through Christ our Lord. Amen**.

**GRACE AFTER MEALS**

Ágimus tibi gratias, omnípotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis, qui vivis et regnas in sæcula sæculórum. Amen.  
Deus det nobis suam pacem. Et vitam æternum. Amen.

**We give thee thanks, almighty God,** **for all your benefits,** **who livest and reignest forever**

**and ever. Amen.**

**May the Lord grant us His peace.** **And life everlasting. Amen.**

**Assist us, O Lord**

Adesto nobis, Domine Deus noster; et quos sanctae Crucis laetari facis honore, eius quoque perpetuis defende subsidiis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

**Assist us, O Lord our God; and defend us evermore by the might of Thy holy Cross, in whose honor Thou makest us to rejoice. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.**

The final chapter to 'And So I Stand'. I hope that you enjoyed reading this story.

* * *

Meene stood alone on the deck of the X-Laws ship to stare at the brilliant sunrise across the water that seemed to stretch out into infinity. The cold biting wind warmed as the sun slowly rose and cast its welcoming light upon the day. It was going to be a bright sunny day. It was going to be a good day to die, as some would say. She wondered if the others knew just how powerful, Hao exactly was and just how impossible it was to defeat the pyromaniac alone, even with a three-man team. Hell, even with Iron Maiden Jeanne and the entire X-Laws team couldn't take the nutcase down even if they tried. Only a very large coalition and powerful allies united to defeat him was the only way. Unfortunately, the X-Laws have burnt far too many bridges for that to happen. Meene chuckled darkly at the answer to her musing. Of course, they didn't know that Hao's mana was over a million. They hadn't even given the Oracle Bell any thought except as a device to reveal who they were going to fight next. Despite some experimentation, Meene never bothered to read the entire FAQ on the Oracle Bell since she was so busy with tracking down or discovering who were Hao's sympathizers and minions. She had an inkling that Marco's harsh stance on other groups in the Shaman Fight against Hao was not a good thing but she never imagined that it would be such a deadly mistake to not take seriously. 

The X-Laws were truly alone in their fight against the Destroyer and while there were plenty groups against the demigod, they would never unite with the X-Laws to fight against him. They had made too many enemies and in general pissed far too many people off.

'If I had my old powers and all three hundred of my brothers and sisters in the Order were alive and at full strength too, then killing Hao would be…'

Meene began to chuckle darkly, she did not regret that she helped seal away her 'father'. The weight of eventually going insane or mutating into something inhuman was removed completely by the sealing of Samael.

At a price of course, but there was always a price to be paid.

'Some intelligence officer I turned out to be. Chris would be so disappointed in me or at least make me do thirty laps around the ship,' the X-Law thought to herself as she lightly rested her head on the cold metal railing of the ship.

Meene heard the metallic shriek of the ship's door opening and the clanging of footsteps coming towards her. She made a quick turn to see who was coming on deck and saw Porf who was still in his absurdly cute yellow chick print pajamas.

"Yo, Meene! Care to join me for a quick session of exercise?" Porf said jovially as he shifted the white towel around his neck on to a deck chair. His bald head shined in the morning sun and almost reflected the light into her eyes. Meene vaguely wondered if the reflective surface of the forehead ever gave away the bald man's position when he was a sniper.

"Why not. A bit exercise would do me some good," she agreed.

Slow familiar routines of stretching, extending and moving flowed as they started warming up. Then the brief running of laps around the ship. The two said nothing as they did their exercises and that was all right.

Porf was once a sniper for the American army. He had met practically half the members of the X-Laws, even if it was just for a brief moment, while in Iraq. The former Ranger never spoke of what had happened in the desert when he ran into Hao and no one in the X-Laws asked.

After their little run, they wandered back into the ship to shower off their sweat. Ever the gentleman, Porf allowed Meene to go in first and she in turn waited for him to outside the bathroom. They walked amicably like the comrade in arms they were to kitchen.

As they approached the 'holy repository of food' (dubbed by Denbat with great solemnity), the sounds what seemed like a war and Iron Chef Competition reached the two's ears.

"What in the?" Meene muttered and looked at Porf in askance.

"Larch and Denbat are in the kitchen. They said they wanted to give you strawberries and chocolate syrup for breakfast. They don't know where the strawberries are though. I think someone ate them," the sniper said as the sounds of mass chaos came from his kitchen. Actually it wasn't Porf's kitchen per se, the kitchen itself was actually a general kitchen area where everyone prepared food for the X-Laws members on a rotating basis. Unfortunately, certain individuals in the X-Laws had atrocious meal preparation skills. In the past Monday and Friday were expected with some dread in the past. It wasn't as though the two X-Laws members responsible for meals on those days weren't trying their best. It was just that they were terrible at cooking.

Porf didn't mind, it just gave him a good excuse to practice his cooking skills. He was going to open a restaurant after this was all over, mind as well get lots of practice while he was an X-Laws. Maybe he can convince Marco to become his assistant chef. The man could cook such good Italian pasta, which made everyone wonder where he learned how.

Porf gave a sidelong look at Meene who was smiling at the thought of Denbat and Larch's thoughtfulness. She just happened to be worse out of everyone preparing meals. Cebin was only marginally better than she was.

In addition, since she was going to either die or abandon them today, she wasn't going to have one last opportunity to poison her fellow team members with badly made breakfast. They both headed towards the kitchen to see what amusing things would happen.

"Where is it!" Larch said frantically. The sounds of clinking plates, clanging pots and other sounds came from the kitchen.

"How should I know! You do realize I regret telling you that she likes strawberries with chocolate sauce on them," Denbat said evenly.

"Maybe I should get Lyserg to dowse for the strawberries, it would cut down on the time to look for them," the former US soldier muttered.

"I know where the strawberries are," Meene announced.

"WHERE?" Larch shouted. He banged his head hard under the cabinet as he tried to see who had answered him.

"They've been happily eaten by me and Mademoiselle D'Arc, thus they reside happily in my stomach and hers," Meene stated as she lifted an eyebrow as Larch gripped his head in pain.

"Good morning," Denbat greeted. His companion, the self-injured American waved a nervous good morning as he got up.

"Good morning, so what's on the menu, now that you've discovered that there are no strawberries left?" The amused former nephilim inquired.

John Denbat sighed, "The menu? The Royal Marine in me says a good serving of neaters for breakfast but an essence such as yourself… you'd end up emptying it all into the head."

The non-British (more importantly non ex-Royal Marine) X-Laws blinked.

"John… What the hell did you just say?" Porf demanded.

The former Royal Marine sighed.

"Never mind, now unless we gentlemen are going to be serving SOS or better, I suggest we start before Meene here gets it in her head to make breakfast for all of us."

The three male X-Laws shuddered at the thought.

"I have learned to boil water by now…" The offended female protested.

The three men merrily ignored Meene's protest and threw themselves into a flurry of activity to make a simple hearty breakfast of toast, coffee, orange juice and beans.

The normality of it all was forced though and as the rest of X-Laws gathered in the dining hall, it became apparent to Meene that the strain of the coming match was surfacing. Breakfast was unusually silent, no one made a joke and the previous joviality earlier was gone.

"Bénedic, Dómine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen."

Marco's voice did not shake, and Meene was thankful to hear that everyone else's voice did not shake as they replied with an 'amen'.

Breakfast was over before she knew it. The X-Laws rose as one and it seemed that everyone was committing to memory the faces of X-III.

"Comrades, friends... My dear friends, we are about to take another step on the righteous road of justice and good. We will shall prevail at the end, God will not abandon this world to the bloodied hands of a murderer and tyrant and neither shall the followers of the Iron Maiden. Fools will call us fanatics, vengeful dogs and worse but we know that our souls our pure. That our hearts ache for the ignorant and misguided. We deal, not death, but with righteous retribution against the evil in this world. My friends… My dear friends, our resolve, our virtues, our cause shall never fade."

Marco strained to keep his voice from breaking with emotion and failed. His voice rang with belief and soared with the sureness of the righteousness of their cause. His words strengthen the resolve of the X-Laws. This was not in vain; they reasoned and stood tall with pride. Meene felt her heart break, they didn't know any better. All she could was look at each of their faces and come to realization that nothing she said would change their resolve to try to defeat Hao today in the arena.

"Adesto nobis, Domine Deus noster; et quos sanctae Crucis laetari facis honore, eius quoque perpetuis defende subsidiis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen," Meene whispered, and in the silence following Marco's speech, all heard the words.

"AMEN!"

A resounding cry from all but Meene who remained silent. It was like the clarion call to action, the X-Laws began to go and pick up their weapons, equipment and anything else they needed. Meene noted that she not made any such preparations; in her holster was everything that she would need.

Her pistol angel, Gabriel, primed and ready. Meene sank back into her chair and closed her eyes.

"Meene, you can go on ahead. We'll see you at the stadium," Marco's voice pierced the darkness of her mind. The female X-Law opened her eyes and saw that Marco remained standing at the table. As though he was waiting for her.

"I thought we are all going together?"

"It'll take about 30 minutes for us to get Lady Jeanne ready to be moved in the Iron Maiden. Venstar asked that you go ahead alone."

"And how do you feel of this request Commander?" Meene asked.

"I don't really know," the Italian answered brusquely, and that tipped off the intelligence officer he was not too pleased.

"I see," it was all she could really say to him. There was something that he desperately wanted to ask, to say but it was futile.

All that could be said between them would take years and they had but a few scant hours left. This was something they knew and decided in silence to keep it in silence.

It was a decision that was felt and understood.

For a moment, the former knight was unsure how to react. It didn't take long for her to act though; she finally got up from her seat and walked past Marco. The X-Laws commander silently followed after her until at last they reached to the walkway to shore.

There Marco stopped and watched his fellow X-Law walk onwards without looking back. Meene was halfway down the walkway when she heard Marco speak.

"Meene…"

Meene did not pause and did not answer.

"I'll see you latter!"

Meene squeezed her eyes shut and stopped on the walkway but she did not answer. For a moment she was tempted to look back and see Marco's face. It was a temptation she allowed herself to give into and thus she turned her neck to see from the corner of her eyes, Marco's pensive face. It was not one she was used to seeing and without realizing it she turned to him fully and look at him.

There Marco stood at the edge of the walkway she was traveling on. His large hands gripping the railings tightly as he leaned forward awkwardly to say something more but he was never eloquent in matters that involved her. Yet, he believed her in a way that couldn't be spoken with mere words and that perhaps was what Meene disliked about him the most.

It was something she had never earned in her mind.

Had never had the right to earn.

Meene turned away at last and walked onwards alone as Marco watched her go.

* * *

The other shamans in the Patch village stared at the X-Law walking the street alone. It was unusual to see an X-Law alone without any of his companions. Most of them only took a cursory glance to note the uniform and failed to realize that the said X-Law was a woman. 

Those who did pay attention didn't really care. She was going to die when she entered the stadium.

Another group down, another step closer to becoming Shaman King in their minds.

Morons all of them. There was no way of defeating Hao in this tournament at all, it was suicide. The entire thing was a farce; Meene couldn't help but feel that the Patch was probably on Hao's side as well. What is the point of a tournament and following the 'will of the Great Spirit' when one of the participants could easily kill every single person in the entire tournament all at the same time?

Did anyone get the joke of this tournament?

Meene felt bitter, at least when she was fighting Samael, there was a slim chance of defeating him.

As she walked through the Patch Village, Meene let her guard down; there was no point in being paranoid before this match. None of the shamans was going to attack her and waste their strength. It had become an unspoken custom that all teams facing Hoshigumi would be left alone, for they were already dead in their minds.

Her wanderings brought to her parts of Patch Village she had not time to explore. It seemed she had come to a place where various Shamans' could practice their faiths. The buildings were shabbily built, but Meene could see a mosque, a stupa and a number of other praying areas. Eventually, she came to a place that she was all too familiar with. It was a church. She approached the battered doors and saw that it was simply a space of worship for the competing shamans who happened to be Christian.

It occurred to Meene at that moment that she had not said her confessions for one hectic year. She was not sure if the realization came from her upcoming fight or the last faint reminders of her harsh childhood or by the sight of the cross. Meene looked inside and found that the church was indeed as dingy as the door. There were some efforts in making it utilitarian for any number of Christian faiths who wanted to use it. It was a painfully small church but it had an altar and all the requisites of worship. It even had a small confessional and Meene felt her body move towards it. She opened the curtain of the confessional to enter, sat down inside and closed the curtain. In the darkness, The X-Law panicked when she realized that she had left her rosary on the ship and remembered the punishments of forgetting it while part of the Order. However, that was far in the past, and she doubted that the demons of the past would resurrect to punish her over something so trivial. The silence was uncomfortable and the outside world seemed to fade away. Meene felt almost crushed in the small space of the confessional. It was as if the looming presence of her fight was pressing down on her.

Meene noted eventually her discomfort had little to do with the weight of her upcoming match. She was not alone, that what was her senses were telling her.

SHHH.

The small grated window in front of Meene opened, it revealed where the priest usually sat to listen to the faithful and their sins. It didn't surprise her very much, she had divined that there was another person. But she did wonder if the Patch had a one of the judges pretend to be a Catholic priest to take confessions. If there was, then it was in extreme bad taste.

"How may I help you my daughter," Luchist Rasso said with a voice and calm face that was picture of fatherly kindness. Tinged with amusement by the sheer coincidence that allowed him to sit across one of the X-Laws. The tall priest who was the second in command of Hao's group found it infinitely more amusing when he realized he was sitting across one of his upcoming opponents who were going to be killed by Master Hao. He almost just laughed when he saw it was 'Gabriel' sitting across from him. The look on her face was priceless; she almost didn't reach for her gun.

Meene wished that it really were one of the judges pretending, in bad taste, of being a Catholic priest. She wasn't expecting Luchist to be there.

"Hello Father," Meene said in a tight voice as she quickly gripped her fingers around her gun.

Click.

The sound of the hammer of a gun in the ready to discharge its deadly payload. Luchist had his gun out long before even Meene had entered and the unusual crushing sensation was the former priest's attempt to hide his aura. And it had fooled Meene, she was surprised and Luchist had his gun pointed direct at her, ready to summon his angel Lucifer if need be.

"Now my daughter, I can't have that in the house of God. Let us try to avoid unnecessary combat before our match? I don't like the idea of killing you here and polluting this sanctuary. However pathetic it maybe," Luchist kindly informed Meene.

"Why Father, I never knew that you cared since you joined up with Hao," Meene noted and debated in her head what would happen if she ignored Luchist's threat. Her answer was that she would be beaten… badly. Luchist was a very powerful shaman, mana of 25000, and well above her strength. A fight would most likely end in his victory and he had the advantage of having his gun armed and ready. She couldn't afford a battle, not when she hadn't decided whether to fight in her match yet.

"I know you don't trust me, so I'll extend the olive branch of peace first," the former priest said. He put the hammer slowly back to it's disarm position and holstered it. Meene felt a bit tension leave her body when Luchist disarmed willingly and moved her hands away from her own gun. Luchist saw through the screen and smiled grimly. There were some idiosyncrasies about the traitor that Meene had learned when he was part of the X-Laws and over time as an enemy. The man was a diplomat to the extreme.

"I always did think you were more rational than the others," Luchist noted.

And he was in full recruitment mode.

"Flattery will get you no where Father. I know what you are trying to do," Meene said cutting Luchist off before he could continue.

"Really? I thought you were here for your confessions."

Before you die was supposed to be tacked onto the sentence but Meene didn't need it to be said aloud, she could read between the lines.

"I do not feel bound to confess to you Father. It is a simply technicality that you have not been excommunicated yet."

"Like you my daughter? And you still call me by my formal title despite that… As for excommunication, I simply no longer believe in the authority of humanity over what is a domain that is for Shamans like us. I can only imagine what you have been through as a dog of that putrid human infested bureaucracy they call the 'Church' and its human leader, the 'Pope'."

"The Pater has a few issues to work out but he is a kind man," Meene defended calmly.

"So kind that he, a mere human with the minor ability to see spirits, would have you lashed fifty times before throwing you into a random doorway to the outside world?"

"So kind that he would commute my execution sentence, despite all those protests, to only excommunication and allow me the chance to live instead…"

The traitor quirked an eyebrow quizzically and leaned forward to the screen.

"How is that kind? There is no salvation outside the Church remember?" Luchist said with not a little bit of sarcasm.

"I'm alive right now, aren't I?"

"A situation which will change in about an hour or so."

Meene really didn't have a clever answer to that.

She changed the subject.

"What are you doing here?" Meene asked.

"Like you I saw it was a church and my natural curiosity got the better of me. I just sat in here as a whim and you ended up sitting across from me."

The man in priestly black breathed deeply for a moment and closed his eyes.

"Indulge me, my daughter. What troubles you," Luchist asked in his fatherly voice of wisdom that most priests, Meene observed, seemed to learn over time. Or learn how to fake.

"I think you know Father," the X-Law answered sardonically.

"As I said, indulge me," Luchist said once more.

"I confess, I am afraid of dying Father… I know that we cannot win against Hao in a match and that suicidal probing for Hao's medium or for his destruction is not the way to go. I cannot convince anyone the futility of the entire thing. If I were a betting woman, I'd say Hao would go in our faces and tell us what his medium was just to annoy us and then kill us because he is an arrogant asshole," Meene said. She watched Luchist's reaction carefully but could read nothing.

"While I disapprove of your language towards Lord Hao, I would have to agree to you… You have no chance in winning and yes, I'd also have to agree, that Lord Hao would be…" Luchist did not have a chance to continue.

"Arrogant enough?" Meene cut into his sentence.

"No, foolhardy enough to tell you what his medium is. Thus far, I can only see three choices in your situation since you can not convince anyone in your team to resign from the match… One, you can runaway and be killed by either the X-Laws for treachery or by my group for being a former enemy. Two, you can fight in your match and die. Three, you can leave the X-Laws and join Lord Hao's crusade to save the world."

"All three choices of the above are unacceptable in one way or another. Especially the last option," Meene said in an acid tone.

"Hao can bring back Mathieu for you when he becomes the Shaman King," Luchist said in an intense voice. Meene took a sharp breath and held it as tried to control her anger and pain and the faintest degree of hope.

Luchist sensed that he had made a mistake in bringing up Mathieu in his negotiations and tried a different route.

"I don't understand you… I was sure out of all the X-Laws, you would be the first to betray or leave the X-laws when Marco and I founded the group with Jeanne. You had the fewest reason to fight with the X-Laws and one of the most injured individuals by the Church than anyone else I could think of. Including Father Platamone. Instead, I became the first to leave and you never left. Why?" Luchist asked. He was not expecting a very exact answer and Meene did not disappoint.

"Because I believe that there is good, that there is evil and the choice between the two... I only chose what I thought was good," Meene answered.

"An odd answer. Marco, how is he?" Luchist asked.

"He's as stiff and unbending as ever. He'll die of stress before he's fifty if he doesn't lighten up now."

"You make it sound certain that he will live through the Shaman King tournament."

"Are you really able to kill your own 'son'?"

Luchist was startled by Meene's question, the surprise was ruthlessly transformed and he immediately leant forward towards the slim grill that separated them. His voice was dark and low, hissing anger was behind it.

"Why not? You were able to kill your own, weren't you?"

Meene did not answer. She opened the door the confessional and left its dark confines hurriedly. Luchist quickly exited and followed her. Meene stopped at the entrance of the church and bathed herself in the warm light. They shared a silence between the two that only 'parents' could understand in regards with their children.

"I'm sorry, but you hit a sore spot for me," Luchist said at last.

"I know, I know," Meene said back. She smiled bitterly and noted that she had to get a move on or else she would not reach the stadium for the match in time.

"So then, this is the last time we will speak to each other?" Luchist asked as though not sure to believe this is truly the last time he would talk to this young woman.

"We will see each other in the match. Perhaps we will exchange last words there," Meene noted with dark amusement.

Luchist shook his head and sighed with frustration.

"I will see you there. May God have mercy on your soul, Meene."

"May God give you time to repent Father Rasso."

Luchist narrowed his eyes.

"We will see, we will see," Luchist muttered and walked away from the church and Meene.

* * *

The Patch Stadium where the battles of the Shaman King Tournament was a surprisingly modern looking affair. The many Native American motifs incorporated to the structure, however, only served to make it cheesy. Icons of eagles, tepees and spears were placed in areas that amplified a sense of fakeness that came from trying too hard to be traditional. It didn't help that everyone first had to pass through a series of food stands and souvenirs shops before reaching the competitor entrances for competing teams. 

It was so grandly tasteless that Meene could almost laugh at it. Yet this stadium, or the grounds upon which it was built, was the site of many bloody and deadly battles. No one pretended that it didn't have a bloody history under all the tackiness. Here Shamans fought for their beliefs and dreams, and quite a number of them died for it.

Meene paused before the stadium's entrance. Once she entered, she would not leave alive.

Yet, what was the sum of all her life then if she turned back now? Was her life worth the betrayal of Lyserg? Of Marco? Or Jeanne? She would live, but she wasn't sure if she would enjoy it.

'I have dedicated 21 years of my life to a cause of repentance. Has it been worth it?' Meene thought as she walked forward towards the darkness of the entrance before her.

The years at Arrach Roth, not knowing her true name or why she was being punished. The drunken rages of the holder of answers to all her questions. The death of Commander Christina D'Arc. The killing of siblings at the battle where neither God nor the devil mattered. The scattering of her brothers and sisters unto the world. The death of Mathieu.

Then there was her own sins to deal with. Murder, perversion of justice, revenge and so much more. Did a person like her have a right to happiness or forgiveness? Her hands, her bloodied hands, had sown so much sorrow and carried the weight of damning lies. Misery was the harvest and through it all she lived.

Lived and sought for something that meant nothing to anyone but to herself.

Yet it those years she enjoyed the comradeship of family and silly sibling rivalry. The simple pleasure of eating gingerbread because of the kindness of a complete stranger. Finding and raising Mathieu during the bleak years of Arrach Roth. Meeting the Commander. Freeing her siblings from imprisonment. Being forgiven by Katherina Jocahim despite it all that happened in Heide. Meeting the X-Laws. Seeing innocence still lived.

There was good she had done with those same bloodied and sinful hands. Finding the lost and despairing in the bleakness of the human heart. Justice and righteous to those who could do nothing for themselves. Even if she could not have happiness, so many others did. The fruit of love that she had nurtured in unexpected ways were sweet in their own ways.

Did she hate? Love? Forgiven? Erred?

'Yes.'

Did her life have regrets? Joys? Tears? Laughter?

'Yes.'

To do nothing was a sin. To hide behind a lie was cowardice. It didn't matter what anyone else thought. She had to live diligently, she struggled because she believed did she not?

If she could change this world, even a bit for the better. To save lives, to give justice to wrongs and stop the wicked. Wouldn't it be worth it?

"Yes."

It was a whisper stronger than steel, a promise that bound only one. It edged away fear and replaced it with grim will.

It felt like the final battle at "the Gates".

Still Commander Christine D'arc's words ringed in her ears.

We need neither God nor the devil. The sum of all our good and all our evils are weighed in each and every one of our souls this day. This is your choice, your will and your dusk to your childhood. Through this night of trails, you are not wanna-be saints or forsaken sinners, you are children at the dawn of adulthood. You have sacrificed and you stand strong in the lonely darkness. I will not abandon no one, and though this world shall forget me and all I have done, I will not forget you… I existed and I have stood with all of you. I forgive you for all your trespasses, even if your brothers and sisters do not, even if this world will not. I forgive you all.

Meene walked onwards.

"Hey," Marco greeted Meene who appeared in the long narrow tunnel before the entrance of the fighting ring. The people were seated along the elevated platform seats and waiting for the match to being. Somehow, she wasn't surprised Marco was there but she noted that Lyserg was not with him.

"Where are the others?" Meene asked.

"Venstar and Cebin have gone ahead and are waiting for the match to begin. The others have taken their seats in the stadium… Lyserg wanted to wait for you but I made him go to his seat," Marco answered. Meene smiled at the irony of it all.

"So the one who hates me and the one who is completely ignorant as to what I am, believed utterly that I would arrive to fight," Meene noted.

"I don't hate you. You just anger me far too than I care to count. Anyways, where's your rosary?" Marco asked. He seemed mildly surprised to not see Meene playing with beads nervously.

"Would you believe me if I said I forgot it on the ship?" Meene asked annoyed.

"No I would not, it's not like you forget."

"You can have it if you want. What you need to know is this, everyone in the X-Laws, including Lady Jeanne is completely outmatched by the Destroyer's power."

This startled Marco utterly. Before he had time to react, Meene was typing away on her Oracle Bell to give more weight to her argument. The numbers on the Oracle Bell was stark and simple.

1,250,000

Asakura Hao

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Marco barked.

Another push of the button on the device, showing another set of numbers.

500,000

Jeanne D'Arc

"It shows how powerful shamans are numerically. As you can see, we're seriously outgunned here," Meene intoned gravely.

"You don't believe Hao can be defeated!"

"No, I believe utterly that Hao can be defeated. A man that has beaten twice before, can be beaten a third time. I don't believe that just the X-Laws alone can defeat him…"

"What are you trying to suggest then! I hope you're not suggesting something that goes against…"

"Marco, will you just listen to someone who's going to die!"

That silenced Marco far too quickly for Meene's liking. She forged on, it was utterly vital to get this through Marco's thick head.

"You can't defeat Hao alone. The X-Laws needs to get more powerful and more allies including those allies we might not like. Whether you follow my advice or not, is utterly up to you. But you have to realize this, we cannot win now or ever if the X-Laws remain the same."

Marco's glasses glared from the scarce light of the tunnel. It hid his eyes and Meene waited for a response.

"I don't like your advice," Marco declared as his weary blue eyes reappeared from behind the glare.

"I never said you had to like it," Meene sighed.

"I'll keep it in mind."

Meene thank God for small miracles.

"I know I should have asked earlier for this, but what should I tell your dying guardian, Father Platamone?"

"What? When did you…" Meene asked stunned by Marco's sudden question. She hadn't given any thought of her former guardian since the e-mail she received yesterday.

"I got an email. He's very desperate."

"Forgiveness, all that we seek for is it not? Tell him this Marco... Tell that I forgive him but I will never forget what he has done to me," Meene said.

"You're cruel… You're not actually forgiving him, you're lying to him to give him peace of mind. What he wants is forgiveness," Marco answered, taken aback by Meene's words when he realized what they actually meant. She was too tired to forgive but she was not tired enough to stop hating.

"No I forgive him, that is the truth. He'll die in peace," Meene answered and looked away from Marco. The match would be starting in a few minutes.

"How am I supposed to believe that? What happens if he thinks it is a lie?" Marco asked.

"I forgive him for all his rage and hatred but I can't forgive that he has never answered my questions…"

Marco opened his mouth to speak but Meene continued, ignoring him completely.

"Marco… He didn't call me by 'name' in his message… He called me by my number, 333173. I would expect him after so many years to tell me who I really am." Sixteen years of pent up frustration, bitterness and sadness was in her voice. It struck Marco how similar it was to Lyserg at times. Gentle and soft on the surface but beneath, the pain of life, which dealt too many blows. To that Marco had no answer, his mouth hung open for a moment and closed as he tried to think of something to say.

"You're not a number to me," Marco said brusquely. He didn't even think of what he was going to say, he just said something.

Meene looked at him startled. Marco coughed embarrassed at his slip of tongue.

"What I mean is that you're not a number to us. Everyone in the X-Laws knows who you are. You're Meene," Marco explained rather lamely.

"Meene is not my real name though. I've never had a real name."

"No, you have a real name. Father Platamone wrote that it's Lucrezia Von Meer. You're named after your mother and she tried to protect you," Marco answered quietly. Meene looked up at him surprised and her jaw dropped.

It was short lived.

"A name after all these years, well better late than never," the woman whose name is Lucrezia whispered amused.

Her search for her real name seemed petty now.

'Now all I need is someone to forgive me one more time. Just like how Chris did, just like how Katherina did,' was the random thought that occurred to her. Then there would be no more regrets.

It seemed to silly. In the face of death, she would desire something like that.

"Will the competing X-III team and Hoshigumi team, please gather at the ring. The match will start in ten minutes," the voice of Goldova was heard clearly over the intercom system set up around the Patch Village and stadium. Both looked at the intercom above them startled.

"It's time for me to go," the woman whose name was Meene noted.

"Lucrezia…"

It was odd, she knew it was her real name but it something she was not used to.

"Yes Marco…"

"You gave so much up and I… I might not have the right to, but I forgive you. Even if the no one else in this world does. I forgive you."

Lucrezia Von Meer.

Meene.

333173

Forgiven.

Did that mean anything?

Yes.

"I have to get to my seat," Marco said finally and Meene nodded. He turned to away from Meene and began walking away.

"Marco?" Meene called out as she was about to walk towards where Cebin and Venstar were.

"Yes, Lucrezia?" Marco stopped and turned his head to look at her. At the end of the corridor where the entrance was, a bright white light lit her body up. For a moment, she looked as though she was on fire already and Marco felt his stomach clench at the thought.

Meene was smiling at him; it was a curious mixture of pity and affection. He smiled back weakly if only to show that he was still in control of himself.

"I think I like Meene better… I'll see you latter." With that and her sad smile, she sang quietly as she walked into the light. Marco heard the echoes of words before she was finally too far away to hear.

_**And you don't seem the lying kind  
A shame then I can read your mind  
And all the things that I read there  
Candle lit smiles that we both share  
And you know I don't mean to hurt you  
But you know that it means so much …**_

The crowd roared and the light devoured her.


	4. To Kill, To Abandon, To Betray

English translation of prayer:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins,  
save us from the fires of hell; lead  
all souls to heaven, especially  
those in most need of Thy Mercy!

--Alternate Ending--

"The Murderer"

If Meene was murdered by Luchist before her match, after she refuses to withdraw.

After they leave the church.

"So then, this is the end?" Luchist asked sardonically.

Meene noted the shift in his voice and prepared herself.

"Murder before the match?" Meene asked as she ran from the entrance of the church and Luchist to put distance between them. She stopped ten meters away from Luchist and stared him down.

"No, something else entirely. This is your last chance Meene," the traitor priest answered back after a brief pause. His eyes followed the woman's movement and mentally calculated his aim.

"Sorry. I am a murderer and a coward but I don't have the gall to be a traitor."

It happened all so very quickly. The two drew their weapons and shot each other, not unlike gunslingers would do in western movies… Save that angels appeared to slay rather than a bullet biting the skin of their opponents.

It didn't matter anyways, Luchist had a modified gun holster which worked in such a way that the tensing of his shoulder muscles would spring his gun out even before he moved his hands to reach for the weapon. It was precious second that it afforded Luchist but it was more than enough.

It was also quite an irony because the holster had been made by Meene who demonstrated the benefits of having a quick draw holster to him when she first joined the X-Laws. It was for Luchist's protection in case his enemies caught him unawares, where a mere second is a truly precious commodity.

None of this registered really in Meene's mind however.

Gabriel failed to solidify in time to block Lucifer's attack. The X-Law only watched as her angel shattered and Lucifer advanced upon her without pause.

The battle was over.

"I am merciful, far more merciful than you can imagine. If you fight against Lord Hao, your soul will be eaten by the Spirit of Fire. You have suffered so much already, and I can not accept the idea of you suffering even more. Rest in peace child, pray that Heaven's gates open for you once more."

Lucifer had stabbed Meene right through her chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the former nephilim knew that it had gone right through her heart. Her body was bowed over the blade and her feet no longer supported her body, what was keeping her upright was the blade that ran her through. It was a fatal wound that would kill her in at least twenty seconds.

Lucifer dissipated like fog in sunlight and the blade through her chest that supported her to stand was gone.

She crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap. Her arms were slack but everything seemed so clear and so warm. There was no pain, surprisingly, she wasn't sure if she was grateful or not. Pain tended to mean there a chance of survival.

Another reason why Meene was expecting pain, at the very least. She had always figured she would die a horribly painful death… so dying painlessly was a big surprise for her.

Luchist Rasso took off his hat as he stood over the dying body. He began to Meene's funeral rites in Latin.

"O Bone Jesu, libera nos a peccatis nostris;  
libera nos ab ignibus gehennae; perduc in  
paradisum omnes animas praesertim eas quae plus  
misericordia tua indigent!"

Meene tried to keep her eyes open, to fight for her rapidly fading life. Hearing Luchist Rasso say her funeral rites pissed her off more than she imagine but she could not move at all. Her body was warm but now was rapidly cooling, as though she had been dunked in cold water.

Soon the world began to dim and the words from Father Rasso seemed distant.

"AMEN!"

Rasso cried out and closed his eyes shut. He could clearly see in his mind's eye, Meene laying face down in a pool of her coppery smelling blood. To him she was beautiful as she laid dying there, white uniform seeped in dark crimson as her skin became paler due to blood loss.

A dying tainted angel.

It occurred to Meene that this moment was the last breath should would take. She vaguely felt the urge to say 'amen' to her own funeral rites, if only to somehow spite Luchist.

"Marco…" Meene breathed out in her last breath. If she had lived a second longer, it would have registered in her brain that she had not said amen to her funeral rites but called for someone. It hardly mattered now though. Her eyes were still open, eyelids half-lidded with exhaustion it seemed.

Luchist Rasso opened his eyes in surprise when Meene called out for Marco. He had not been expecting her to call out for someone.

Blood began to matte Meene's hair and her blood was now congealing in the warmth of the sun. The faint smell of death was beginning to waft to the former priest's nose. A mix of coppery blood, methane and human wastes from a dead body.

The dead tainted angel was no longer beautiful to see.

Luchist Rasso turned towards the stadium without looking back at the corpse.

Meene's open, unseeing eyes saw him off.

--Alternate Ending--

"The Coward"

If Meene decided to run away

"So then, this is the last time we will speak to each other?" Luchist asked as though not quite sure to believe this is truly the last time he would talk to this young woman.

"No… Perhaps in the future, in some far off place when this is all over… We will speak to each other once more. Or perhaps that is when you will hunt me down and kill me, who knows."

Meene stared at the sun in the east, away from the stadium. Away from certain death, the X-Laws and the Shaman Fight.

"So… You are running away… You will be hunted and killed, either by the X-Laws or by us… You must realize that," Luchist said calmly.

"Oh, I realize that but as long as I live, there will always be another day and the next one after and the next one after that…" Meene answered.

"I won't speak of miracles from Hao-sama… But as long as you stay out of his way, I am reasonably sure that you will not be killed by us until after he becomes the Shaman King. The X-Laws and Lady Iron Maiden being a completely different matter entirely of course…"

"Ha… always the comforting one, Father."

"Goodbye and take care," Luchist said in a voice that was neither kind nor cruel. He turned towards the stadium and walked towards it.

Meene felt the wind blow on her face and the warm sun look down upon her gently. A sudden feeling of freedom welled up in her heart and just as suddenly departed, leaving her cold. The still of the morning was obvious, there was no one in the streets. Everyone had gone to the stadium to watch the death of X-III. Patch village was like a ghost town.

The former nephilim removed her white X-Laws uniform shirt and threw it on the ground in front of the church. The pure white of the jacket, it's crispness and cleanliness was in start contrast to the brown muddy earth. Without further hesitation, she threw down her luger on top of the heap. The dull grey metal of her weapon/spirit medium shined in the sun.

She turned away from the church and walked away from it all.

Thirty minutes after her fateful decision, X-III was completely annihilated. Two souls were consumed by a merciless demi-god's hunger for power. A young boy's faith shattered. A band of brother's abandoned.

(fifteen years later)

Marco Innocenzo Testarossa had finally found Meene. The circumstances of him meeting her once more after so many years was unbelievably mundane.

He literally ran into her as he walked away from the Gemelli hospital where Jeanne was staying in. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was walking because he was fretting about Jeanne's health and angry at the gall of some of members of the Church pressing that Christina should become the next Iron Maiden of Roses. In such a chaotic state of mind it was natural that he ran into something, or rather someone.

That someone happened to Meene.

Marco swore as he landed on his ass and lifted his heated glare at the offending person he had run into. The Roman paled and found that he could not breath for the person he had run into was Meene. Even after all the years apart, he could immediately recognize that it was her.

Meene was currently gritting her teeth in pain and annoyance until she decided giving a glare of her own to the man she ran into. The shock on her face blossomed upon seeing Marco and gave the Roman all the confirmation he needed that woman in front of him was indeed his former comrade.

The world around them meant nothing as they picked themselves off the ground from their collision.

"… Meene…" Marco whispered unable to believe what he was seeing. Marco's voice released Meene from her paralysis and she attempted to flee from her former comrade. It didn't work because the former leader of the X-Laws seized Meene's arm and kept her from running. The painfully tight grip Marco had on the woman's arm caught the attention of many people on the sidewalk. Both of them noticed the attention.

"Not here Marco. Let's talk somewhere else, but not here," Meene gave up all thoughts of fleeing. The last thing she needed was people to call the police because Marco did something foolish in the street.

Marco said nothing but nodded in acknowledgement. He then dragged her away from the busy street and towards a lonely café in one of the alleyways.

"I can walk without a leash," Meene said indignantly. Marco glared at her but reluctantly removed his grip from her arm. Both walked towards the café in silence.

Café Tosca was almost empty. It was a small private café that most tourists would not go to. Here families would come for a dinner, tired office workers would drink a glass of wine before returning home, seniors meet old friends for a talk or housewives would sit in the outdoor tables and gossip a bit over coffee. It was a homey place, a people place where much happiness, much sadness and much life went about on it's normal business. It would be different for Meene and Marco to a certain degree. The gossipmongers noted the two and began to formulate a story. An older dignified looking blonde haired man, richly dressed, and a mysterious beautiful blonde woman in plain street clothes. A client and a prostitute? Husband and wife? Oh, what is this? The man wears a wedding ring and the woman does not? An unfaithful husband and a lover then?

Marco and Meene felt almost embarrassed by the questioning looks of the regular patrons.

After a quick request from Marco to the manager, a small private room was opened to them, away from prying eyes. They both entered, sat down in the chairs of the small room side by side without words and said nothing until the coffee was served and when they were, at last, alone.

The fact that they were sitting so close together did not bother them. They were not wary of any violence that might erupt between each other either. They were too old and tired after a lifetime of violence.

"Hao has been… defeated…" Marco stated quietly breaking the silence. Sunlight filtered through from the dirty glass windows behind them and played upon their hair.

"I know, humanity still lives after all," Meene noted.

"Cebin, Venstar, Porf, Larch and Denbat are alive again."

"I know that too…"

"Lyserg married Jeanne, they have a beautiful three year old daughter and they named…"

"They named her Christina…"

"You don't seem very surprised by all this…"

"… I have been keeping tabs on everyone from time to time. I sometimes even check on how Father Luchist does in his exile at Arrach Roth…"

"Here's something you don't know then. Jeanne is dying… The Iron Maiden of Roses had been killing her for all time without us realizing it. She might only have five years to live now…"

"I thought as much…"

Shock entered Marco's face.

"You knew… You knew about the Iron Maiden of Rose's price for power!" the betrayed man said with anger, despair and disbelief. His fists unclenching and clenching.

"… Yes… I knew. It is impossible to forget or ignore it when the Iron Maiden cripples and wastes away the Commander of the Repenting Ones within a mere three years," Meene admitted.

"Don't you have anything else to say!" Marco demanded, his voice was drained of anger but the venom of bitterness remained.

"… What do you want me to say? Something stereotypically villainous? A heartfelt apology? Or something completely different?" she asked quietly.

"Anything… Anything at all…" he answered. The Roman groped for something to say, something to demand, and found nothing.

Marco became silent. Part him desired to severely hurt Meene, but another part of him wanted to talk to her. He wanted closure, he wanted to know the truth and understand and accept why she had abandoned the X-Laws.

The Roman looked down at his clenched fists then ran his hand over his hair, messing it up in the process. Then he looked at Meene on his left. He 'looked' at her for the first time in fifteen years and burned her image in his mind, transposing it over how she looked before she ran. The differences of the past and present became clear.

Meene was still very beautiful, time had not only added to her mysteriousness but made it more mature. The youth in her face was still strong but it was not the same youth of a twenty year old. There were hints of wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. Her wheat blonde hair was tied back into a simple messy ponytail and her green eyes were more distant than ever. She wore no make up and no jewelry, as always she needed no ornamentations. Quite similarly her clothing was plain as well, a white shirt and jeans with a blue jean jacket. Marco noted that his long ago traitorous companion was armed as well, a small bulge in her jacket gave evidence of a gun holster.

Meene also was observing the subtle changes appearance that Marco had gone through also at the same time.

She was in stark contrast to Marco's formal business suit and formerly carefully arranged hair. He permeated of expensive good taste and sophistication. There was a gun holster hidden under the folds of his outer jacket, though Meene didn't know what type of gun. In any case, time had made Marco look more patriarchal, like a overly dignified father. He was still handsome, but there were a few extra inches around his waist, wrinkles around his eyes and the beginning of his golden hair turning grey. Her former commander had aged very well in Meene's opinion but what caught her attention most was the single gold wedding band on his wedding finger. The thought of Marco getting married during the fifteen years she abandoned the X-Laws had never occurred to her and she hadn't bothered to check on Marco in the last several years.

Life moved on after all.

Marco noticed Meene's gaze on his ring.

"Ah… So you've noticed…"

"… Who's the lucky woman?"

Meene felt like an idiot for asking because Marco burst out laughing, bitter and vibrant, and slapped the side of his leg trying to control himself.

"This coming, ahahaha, from the same person, hehehe, who told me… hahaha…" The Roman couldn't continue, his eyes were watering with amusement and disbelief. He managed to control himself eventually.

"Then why are you wearing it?" Meene asked sounding a bit peeved when at last Marco wasn't laughing at her.

"Well… I am rich, single and still good looking. What woman in Italia would not want me? I got tired of all the gold diggers out there, so I went to a jewelry store and bought myself a wedding ring to wear. It didn't stop all of them but it made it a hell of a lot more manageable to deal with," Marco explained as he sipped his coffee.

"… The idea of you dealing with gold digging women is… a bit far out," she admitted at last.

"You have no idea," Marco muttered.

Then the silence fell inevitably. Their conversation was forced, an attempt to recreate what the past was like. One where they joked, antagonized and laughed together.

Marco spoke again.

"Meene?"

"Yes?"

"Stand up and let me look at you…"

Meene looked at Marco oddly. It was a strange request but she complied nonetheless.

She stood up and waited for Marco to say something.

He looked at her.

Nothing happened but Meene patiently waited for Marco to do something.

Slowly but surely Marco arms moved. He pulled Meene slowly onto his lap and held her body close to his. The tired man held her in his arms and buried his face in her slender shoulder. Meene did not resist and quietly cradled Marco's head, her warm lips rested on his forehead.

It was an inappropriate intimacy. One that was not earned, both of them knew it. Yet they continued to search for some sort of understanding, until at last they realized there was none. The betrayal, regrets, bitterness and loss was too great for them both. There were just some wounds and memories that they could never heal with loyalty, faith, love and time.

Meene broke away from Marco's embrace and Marco pulled his head away from her shoulder. Their eyes did not meet and words were not needed. A crushing sense of sadness settled upon the old commander of the X-Laws, greater than all the hatred and bitterness he had felt in his life. For Meene, a regret and loss greater than when she murdered Mathieu, the years as an Inquisitor in the Order and her abandonment of the X-Laws.

"I'm going now…" Meene finally spoke at last. She removed herself from Marco's embrace and walked towards the exit.

"Meene…"

Marco suddenly called out for her.

Meene closed her eyes as she touched the cool metal doorknob and listened to what he had to say.

"I should have made X-III drop out of that fight… I should have done a lot of things really," Marco quietly admitted.

Meene opened the door out of the room. She stood with her back turned on Marco and stared into the café beyond the quiet of private room.

She then turned to look at the man she once knew

"… Goodbye Marco."

Marco never told Lyserg or Jeanne or anyone that he had met Meene that day.

Or in the years to come that he saw her in passing like a shadow.

At Jeanne's funeral.

When Christina casually told the elders of the church to 'bugger' off when they presented the Iron Maiden to her.

At the various weddings and funerals of all the former X-Laws.

Nor did he say anything, when at last he felt death at his door step, when Meene came to his bedside and watched him in silence.

Watched him breath his last.

When Lyserg came up to Marco's hospital room with his daughter Christina, they were baffled to find a grayed old woman giving a silent prayer to Marco's still body.

The woman gave no name nor explanation about anything.

Just a warm smile that never reached her green eyes.

--Alternate Ending---

"The Traitor"

If Meene decided to abandon the X-Laws

"So then, this is the last time we will speak to each other?" Luchist asked as though not quite sure to believe this is truly the last time he would talk to this young woman.

Meene closed her eyes and remained silent. The former priest felt a change, a decision made, from Meene. So he waited until finally the X-Law opened her green eyes.

"… No… No… I suspect from now on, we will speak to each other quite often," Meene replied at last. Her voice was thick with emotion, at first there was hesitation but now there was force in her words and all indecision gone.

Luchist removed his hat and bowed his head.

"You will not regret your decision… Throw away the shackles of the old and vows of the past, they no longer bind you. Lord Hao will show you the path to power and to true redemption."

"… Father, I don't want power or redemption…"

Luchist raised his head and looked at the now former X-Law. He saw that she was staring at the blazing sun above the stadium without blinking at the harsh rays that must have blinded her.

"Just give me back Mathieu…"

"And if Mathieu kills you as soon as he returns to life?"

"… Just give me back Mathieu… My war is over."

(at the stadium)

Meene was going to come any second now.

Contrary to popular belief, Marco was an optimist.

Justice will always prevail.

Righteous defenders of the innocent will always find a way to victory.

Good will always triumph over evil.

The X-Laws was going to end the evil that is Hao.

Behind him, he heard the horror of the crowd and the screams of Cebin burning to death. A wrenching sound of absolute pain made even more unbearable by his raspy weak voice.

Marco gritted his teeth and waited for Meene to come.

In the background he could hear Hao's amused voice.

"Well… That was quick. This is why I proposed that you two come at me at once. You guys are really a couple of idiots. It's really cute that you're studying me to try to pierce my secret, but, if you die, you'll never win. I suppose I should applaud the fact that one of your members saw that it was suicide to fight me."

"Waa! A crushing victory! The fourth match just barely finished and here we already have the result of the fifth match! Against quite an adversary! An X-Law used an angel as his ghost!" Radim, the Patch Official of the match, announced with far too much energy given that yet another shaman had died due to Hao.

Venstar's icy furious voice rang out.

"So you figured out our plan… But don't think that my friend died for nothing. Your death sentence still hasn't been executed! My friend left behind the secret of your spirit!"

"Amazing! He's still alive and after everything he's endured. What courage! He's tenacious folks!" Radim announced.

"Oh a clever man, ignore the jab about your missing team mate and talk about something else. And so you succeeded in understanding that I use the air as the ghost for deploying my strength? Fire burns thanks to oxygen. It's easy to imagine that it's the ideal medium for my Spirit of Fire, don't you think?" Hao said casually.

Marco felt a degree of shock. That their enemy could so casually reveal the secret of his medium was an insult to their sacrifice.

"So what now? If you're going to act, hurry up. Otherwise, you're going to die…" the Destroyer pointed out unconcerned.

"Shut up!" Venstar roared enraged.

"I have a question for the supervisor of the tournament. The protection barrier of this ring, how strong is it?"

"Huh… Uh… It's sufficient. This barrier is supposed to prevent interference by the audience and keep attacks in the arena. Only the participants and myself can enter this ring. This barrier is impenetrable from all attacks outside of it and attacks within it," the referee explained into his mike.

"Ah… Good then. Even if there is a great explosion inside of here, the Iron Maiden and the public will remain unharmed," Venstar said relieved.

Marco knew that his companion was going to use his hand grenade.

"Unlucky for you, if you the oxygen leaves your ghost, you have no way to protect yourself."

BOOOOM!

A concussive force nearly knocked the Roman off his feet. Venstar had blown himself up, the stadium was silent.

Marco could not stand to ignore what was happening behind him and ran to the entry way of the fighting field to see what was happening. To see who had won. When the commander of the X-Laws arrived he found that the dust, debris and smoke thrown up into the air hid everything. There was no way to tell if Hao was still alive and so he waited for the air to clear.

Somewhere in the back of Marco's mind, the hope that Hao was finally dead was entertained.

Then that hope became shattered at the sound of a single young boy laughing. Hao was laughing full heartedly and the air settled to reveal that there was absolutely no injuries on the ancient young boy or damage on the Spirit of Fire.

Shock gripped Marco, he imagined that the other X-Laws was feeling the same.

The Spirit of Fire was blue in color and clear.

Water… Hao's spirit had morphed into water and resisted the loss of oxygen.

"Your sense of justice truly tires me. I can't congratulate him for blowing himself up but I didn't think you guys would push me to this point…" Hao flashed a pearly white smile at the stunned Marco and spectators.

The souls of Cebin and Venstar materialized in front of Hao and the Spirit of Fire. It looked like their bodies, but translucent and strangely white. Marco saw their faces, and found that they looked peaceful. As though a great burden had been lifted from them and were unaware of the great danger they were in.

"Thank you, I won't let you guys die like that. Whether the soul is good or evil, if it has a strong personality it continues to shine and becomes the source of great power. In my eyes, your behavior is ridiculous. But I must admit that the souls of X-III were brave enough to go to the point of sacrificing your lives… well most of X-III anyways. You souls are beautiful, we mustn't waste them. Become the food of my spirit and you will exist for eternity."

The Spirit of Fire perked up and seemed to grin as it reverted back to fire form. Hao casually pointed to the two dangling souls.

"Today is a day for feasting. Go, Spirit of Fire. Devour them and enjoy," the Destoyer ordered.

Without hesitation the red Spirit of Fire seized Cebin to devour first. That was when Cebin's soul seemed to awake and began screaming in pain. As though the soul could still feel the physical pain of being burned and bitten apart. The Spirit of Fire ate slowly, starting with soul's legs one by one and then half the torso in a nibble. Then the arms, one by one before Spirit of Fire simply threw it's head back and dumped the rest of Cebin's soul in to it's maw and chewed slowly. The screams could still be heard from within Spirit of Fires of mouth until it finally swallowed Cebin's soul whereupon the screams stopped.

The waves of power that rolled off of Hao and the backlash from the devouring of the soul so slowly was sickening. Like a miasma that clung to clothing and skin and was breathed in because it was everywhere.

Marco paled but watched the display. Hao smiled widely and seemed to enjoy the show that Spirit of Fire was putting on. More than a few stadium spectators began throwing up at the sight or began leaving, unable to bear witness to the scene.

Most members of Funbari Onsen and Team The Ren turned their eyes away also. Only Asakura Yoh, Amidamaru, Anna, Tao Ren and Bason bore witness to the entire scene.

Faust shielded Eliza's eyes and whispered soothing words of a German song in his wife's ears. Faust did not want her to see the barbarity of it all. Ryu threw up on the bleachers and dammed up his ears so he could not hear the screams. Tokagero said nothing and merely stood over his partner with understanding.

Chocolove and Manta had it easy, they both eventually fainted. The same could not be said for Tamao and Pirika, both clung to each other and began crying. Eyes buried in each others arms while Horo Horo tried his best to be there for them. Kororo simply hide in the snowboard and shuddered with terror.

The X-Laws watched stoically. Lyserg found he could not be so impassive, his hands were balled up so tightly into fists that they began to bleed. The Iron Maiden wept blood, symbolizing the pain that Jeanne felt for the enslavement of her chosen angels.

The same slow feasting happened with Venstar's soul. The end of the gruesome display was signaled when Venstar's screams of pain ended and Hao's malicious laughter began.

A laughter that echoed throughout the stadium and in the minds of all witnesses.

(latter on)

Asakura Hao was in a good mood.

A supremely good mood.

He had eliminated a significant portion of the always amusing, always pathetic X-Laws. It boggled his mind that such weak shamans thought they had a chance to somehow defeat him in combat. The combined power of the two X-Laws didn't even match a single member of Hoshigumi, they were just so pathetically weak.

But…

Souls were souls, even if they were pathetically weak. Waste not, want not.

Hao smiled as he sensed the approach of Luchist and another, Meene. Luchist was quite happy, proud really, that he managed to recruit another X-Laws to Hao's side. It bolstered his morale and further gave him confidence that he had made the right choice in supporting Hao.

Meene who was with Luchist was less than enthused. Hao couldn't help but smirk at the sense of quiet horror and guilt from her and the constant debates in her head that she had nothing to be guilty of. She was a product of her upbringing, these Catholics always seemed to be punishing themselves over something. The only thing that made her not bolt or runaway from it all was the simple utter fact that it was too late to turn back because everyone in the X-Laws and Hao's group would kill her. That and the single, pure hope Hao would resurrect Mathieu for her.

Ah yes, Mathieu. He really shouldn't have sent Mathieu to recruit former nephilim alone. The boy was much too mentally unstable, naïve and righteous to appeal to the war weary, exhausted old former nephilim. Mathieu's proselytizing was ultimately a failure; most of the nephilim who gave Hao support were far too weak to do much except acknowledge Hao as the future Shaman King.

Actually, they were all astoundingly weak. These beings who once only slept one hour a day, healed wounds in a blink of an eye, could perform feats of power that astounded most normal shamans and other such amazing abilities as if it were nothing.

The sealing of Samael changed all that.

They now had to sleep as much as any other person. They now healed as fast a normal human unless they learned how to heal themselves with furyouku. They no longer had many of the abilities, knowledge, nor power that once made them one of the most feared beings in the world.

Many of them were now humans. Humans who could no longer see the supernatural, the beauty of nature or hear the spirits of the world.

Hao could not help but pity them. To lose so much power, so many gifts and to be forced to live as mere shadows of their former selves. Shadows who could no longer ever hope to have a glimmer of their former strength.

Mathieu was right to kill many of them. No self-respecting shaman could live like that. It was more merciful to kill them, so that they no longer had to suffer the indignation of living like a human.

Thus, Hao pitied Meene. He had heard once that she was the third most powerful of all the nephilim in the Order of the Repenting Ones. However, looking at her now and estimating her strength, it was hard to believe such a thing. She was stronger than the Hanagumi but no more than that.

The two approached Hao at last and Hao's followers gathered to witness the situation.

Luchist bowed lowly to Hao and in his calm wise voice spoke.

"This is Meene, Hao-sama, whom I've mentioned before. She wishes to join our glorious cause. She is the former Inquisitor of the Order of the Repenting Ones, former Paladin, former Commander of the Order of the Repenting Ones and former X-Law," Luchist listed as though it meant anything to most of Hao's followers. Meene doubted that any of them had ever even heard of the Order of the Repenting Ones.

"That's a lot of formers in there. Missed any?" Big Guy Bill asked smarmily.

"Yeah, he missed two in fact. I'm also a former Roman Catholic and a former baker of Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany," Meene answered back sarcastically.

Most looked absolutely shocked by the utter gall of Meene. She wasn't exactly in a situation that was in her advantage and Meene knew this perfectly.

It also occurred to Meene that this was the first time she had ever spoken to Asakura Hao, face to face. Actually, this was the first time she had ever met Asakura Hao, now that she really thought about it. She had read the reports on Hao, she had fought his followers, investigated their activities but she had never ever met Hao in a positive or negative way.

For all of Mathieu's bullshit about the greatness of Hao and clumsy attempts to recruit her to Hao's side, the 1000 year old pyro never bothered to directly recruit her.

"Watch your mouth, I could break you like a twig," Bill growled angrily, he saw Hao bade him to stand down and thus he did. Though the American still grumbled at Meene's rather quick-witted retort.

The stony faces of the rest of Hao's followers watched their possible new comrade with wariness and mentally calculated her chances of surviving through her first trial of initiation.

Hao casually circled Meene in a calm walk. Her full attention was upon the ancient young boy who could easily kill her even if it was through the corner of her eyes as she paid attention to her other enemies.

At last, the great Destroyer; the great madman; the great visionary spoke. Charisma, self-confidence and power dripped from his words as he circled around her slowly.

"I see that you're not all at peace with yourself and your decision right now but do try to be civil. We are all merely attempting to provide happiness and justice for all shamans… but you, you're not exactly here for that which makes me wonder, what will it cost to keep you happy? What will motivate you serve for the greater good of all shamans in the long run? Power? No, you have no desire for it much to my disappointment. Revenge? All who you despise in the human world is dead or dying, by your hand or someone else's. Justice? Ah, but even you have given up on that."

Meene made no reaction to cruel verbal jab. Asakura Hao had made a complete 360 degree circle around his potential new member of his group and stopped abruptly. His eyes stared at Meene's green eyes and waited for the woman to respond.

"You will be the future Shaman King… You will have the power of resurrection," Meene stated in a flat voice. She didn't need to explain who she wanted to return to life, Hao already knew. She could tell by the lively fire in his eyes which he spoke of his amusement.

"Ah, I know what you want and who you speak of. You want me to bring back Mathieu, former Hospitaller Mathieu Kamynin… The Fleshsculptor," the great visionary answered for all to hear.

"A small price to pay for you is it not?" Meene found that her voice was weak and waited for the Asakura Hao to agree or refuse. She found the five seconds of silence as he considered excruciating though she it never showed on her face.

"So then we have a deal?" A smile graced her new commander's young face.

"… Yes… But I will not call you Lord Hao or Hao-sama," Meene stated firmly. Hao's group seemed slack jawed at Meene's nerve.

"Don't worry, you're not required to call me Lord Hao or Hao-sama. I'm sure you're tired of calling that weird girl Lady Jeanne and Jeanne-sama. But you'll start calling me that soon enough after you see my grand vision for the future of all shamans… Until then call me Asakura-san and I hardly need to tell you what happens if you try to betray me," Hao smiled cheekily as he light his entire hand on fire. She could sense that the hypnotic dancing flames were powerful enough to reduce to her a crisp. The awe in Hao's face as he stared at his summoned flame made Meene wonder if she was really dealing with a 1000 year old pyro or a teenager who happened to be a pyro.

"… Then Asakura-san, you will keep your end of the deal?"

"I promise Signora Meene," Hao said in Italian and flashed a flawless smile.

Meene was vaguely surprised that Hao could speak Italian but she mostly concentrated on keeping her guard up.

She was amongst enemies here. Her only ally that held even a shade of trustworthiness was Father Luchist Rasso, and even that was tenuous.

"Chou Senji Ryakketsu, I trust you've heard of it before?" her new commander casually asked.

"Yes I have."

"Oh ho, as expected of an Inquisitor, you just have to know everything. So explain, briefly and within one hundred words."

"The Chou Senji Ryakketsu was written by the onmyouji Asakura Hao some 1000 years ago. It details his observation on the nature of shamanic powers, his personal thoughts and incantations and charms. By reading it, it is said to grant the reader immense power and insight but at the risk of going insane or being completely consumed by the knowledge and power contained in it. All members who join Asakura Hao's group are said to experience the contents of the Chou Senji Ryakketsu which increases their power."

"Ah, excellent, that saves me a great deal of trouble explaining what I'm going to do. I will soon send you through an extremely condensed version of it so that you can quickly experience the enlightening effects of my great writing… As it stands now, you are far too weak to be of much use to me," Hao explained unapologetically.

"And if I fail to gain any strength from it?" Meene ventured to ask. A small kind smile appeared on Hao's handsome face.

"Then I spare you the indignity of it all by killing you and letting Spirit of Fire eat your soul," the 1000 year old pyro, winsomely stated. Meene felt a chill go through her. She didn't want to consider that possibility in her head just yet.

"That's one of hell of a winning deal you got there…" The former X-Law managed to answer in low voice which did not betray her fear. It didn't matter, Hao picked up on it and so did a few of her new comrades.

"When it is over follow Mari so you can get a change of clothing. As much as I would love to piss off the X-Laws and that weird girl by keeping you in X-Laws uniform, I don't want to confuse the shaman community about your new allegiances."

Meene nodded and found her mouth dry.

Hao began to chant ancient Sanskrit prayers and weave his mana into a gate of sorts to the core lessons of the Chou Senji Rakketsu. He made it seem like child's play but Meene's head spun as she tried to trace the weaves of power that Hao was doing. It was far too complex and eventually Meene found she did not understand how Hao was creating the gate at all. Finally it was finished and stood before Meene. All she had to do now was step forward and enter what could possible kill her, drive her mad or return a fraction of her former power.

The entire group looked on and waited. Much to their surprise, the X-Law woman didn't hesitate or look back nervously before she took a simple step forward into the gate.

The gate devoured her it seemed. All they could do was wait and see if the trial killed her or strengthened her.

It wasn't what Meene expected to be. What she meant to say was, she felt overwhelmed by the innate wisdom and keen observations that the original incarnation of Asakura Hao possessed. Yet the personal power of the onmyouji failed to impress her, she had seen a fallen angel demonstrate the extent of his powers after all.

Despite that she honestly found it easier to connect to that hidden well of power within and found herself enlightened by Hao's instructions.

But she felt herself less interested in that compared to the vision that he hoped to achieve for the world.

His vision of a world free of humans and only of strong shamans who connected with nature was all that was left…

It was beautiful.

It was idealistic.

It was perversely noble.

But in the end, she could describe it with words. She had seen heaven and hell, this vision she was witnessing was ultimately the vision of a man who was trying to become a god.

Heaven and Hell were just… she found calling them simply heaven and hell inadequate but it was the best she could do.

Then it was all over and Meene found that herself alive and uninjured from her jaunt into the very essence of the Chou Senji Rakketsu. Around her were her new companions (if she could even call them that) and a brightly smiling Asakura-san.

"That was it?…" Meene asked calmly.

The look of shock which started with Luchist quickly spread to the entire legion of Hao's followers. They stared at Meene as if she was from another planet. Peyote merely smirked and seemed unaffected by her comment.

"Stop looking at me as if you expected me to proclaim that Hao is the greatest thing since sliced bread," Meene said in an irritated voice.

Hao began chuckling, then snickering and then, he could no longer hold back, started laughing. An even more bewildered look entered the faces of Hao's followers. Meene noted that the Hanagumi looked ready to murder her, despite the fact she wasn't sure exactly what she did _this _time to piss them off.

"Oh, you're a rare one. But I guess if you have seen past the very gates of Heaven and Hell before then my vision is not grand at all," Hao managed to say between his laughs.

"Hao-sama! She is another one who has accepted your power without bothering to accept your teachings!" Turbine managed to say as he recovered from his shock.

"So, Peyote doesn't believe in most of my teachings but he's more than willing to accept my power and follow me and you don't complain about it… much," Hao observed.

"But Hao-sama! Peyote's never killed or tried to kill any of us! More over she used to be in the X-Laws!" Kanna spat out with venom as she glared at Meene. Meene was tempted to blow a raspberry at Kanna but decided that pissing off the Hanagumi right now was probably not conductive to her long-term health.

"Erm… I used to be in the X-Laws and I have killed or tried to kill many of you," Luchist coughed.

Turbine and Kanna seemed far more reluctant to simply accept Meene into the group. Bill, Peyote, Zhang Ching, Macchi and Brocken did not care in the least, Meene had survived and the Lord Hao had accepted her. While Mari and Opacho accepted Meene's membership without question.

Hao could sense this all with his empathy. Just as he could sense that Meene was more than ready to prove that she would follow without complaints. As long as Hao was on the winning side, she would not betray him like she did to the X-Laws.

Meene was not unlike a number of shamans who supported Hao simply because they were too weak to oppose him.

"Hao-sama's dream is for the good of all shamans. She will see and she will learn to believe," Opacho stated in her cute high pitched voice.

Hao smiled as Opacho spoke. He could not read her mind, but he never worried about betrayal from the little African girl. She was pure, innocent as a child could only be and her words were always what she truly believed.

"And if I believe in a different sort of future, a different sort of dream?" Meene asked calmly.

Hao read Meene's mind and found out her beliefs, her dreams, the future she thought was perfect. It sadly impossible to achieve and included humans, it was also more idealistic than even Hao dared to attempt to make. But he didn't have to disabuse of her fantasies, she knew they were impossible.

Nonetheless he couldn't help but make a jab at her.

"What is your Eden on earth like then?" Hao asked with both amusement and malice.

"It is sort of like Utopia…" Meene answered concisely as she walked off to follow Mari to get a change of clothing.

Hao smile darkly at Meene's answer.

"She's an interesting one… Mathieu was right in trying to recruit her in the beginning. If only I believed him a bit more she might have been a very valuable shaman for me in the beginning… Well then, I'm off to get myself a small snack."

"What does she mean 'it is sort of like Utopia', Hao-sama," Bill asked.

Hao summoned Spirit of Fire and stood in it's hand with Opacho.

"Utopia means 'no place'… A perfect Eden that doesn't exist, no… it can't exist. It's an unattainable ideal," Hao explained and took his leave.


End file.
